Enemies of the Past
by Lauriverfanboy1
Summary: Sequel to the Canary Cry. This is how I think season 5 might've gone instead. It's been 6 months since the defeat of Damien Darhk and with John, Thea and Felicity having left the Team, Oliver and Laurel must assemble a new one in order to combat a new enemy that originates from both of their pasts. Better then the summary suggests. Please read, as usual, this is a lauriver fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

"Laurel, do you have any idea where Oliver is?" Thea asked her brother's girlfriend as they both looked around the policemen's gala.

"No. He told he'd be here after he and Roy dealt with another lowlife that was trying to take Darhk's place, but considering that was an hour ago, I'm assuming they got sidetracked." Laurel said.

"I swear, it's as if Oliver expects us to do his job for him." Thea said as Oliver joined them.

"Sorry I'm late, again." Oliver said as he kissed Laurel's cheek.

"So, what's the excuse this time?" Thea asked.

"Roy and I were dealing with a little Anarchy, downtown." Oliver said and both Laurel and Thea caught the double meaning of those words.

"Well, at least you're here now, especially since you have a speech to give." Thea said and Oliver nodded.

* * *

"The A.C.I. is an important step towards lowering crime in the city, but I'm not going to consider it without some major reform." Oliver said.

"What type of reforms?" a reporter asked.

"Uh, to start, an investigation into allegations of widespread corruption within the police department." Oliver said, just to see the looks on both Laurel and Thea's faces at the stupidity of what he'd just said.

"Ok. Mayor Queen will elaborate on all comments at the ceremony honoring all those who didn't make it on Genesis day. Thank you all very much." Thea said as she pulled Oliver away.

"You realize you just accused the police department of being corrupt at the police department gala?: Thea asked him incredulously.

"I answered a question." Oliver said.

"Yeah, and you also just put blame on the police department instead of taking responsibility for the city's crime." Thea said.

"You know I'm taking responsibility." Oliver argued.

"Yes, the other guy, but as the mayor, it looks like you're sleep walking, ok? Showing up late again is not helping that perception." Thea pointed out.

"Being the mayor gives me access to actionable Intel as "the other guy." It's a means to an end." Oliver said.

"Well, it didn't start off like that, Ollie. You wanted to become and then became the mayor to actually be mayor." Thea said.

"Right, and then reality set in. Even if we weren't dealing with a corrupt police department, and we are, or an electorate that thinks I got all my political knowledge by binge-watching "The West Wing," I still wouldn't be able to focus on being mayor, Speedy, because while I'm not exactly flying solo as the "other guy" with Laurel and Roy helping me, it still doesn't make up for the fact that since Darhk was killed, crime lords in this city have started to come out of the woodwork trying to take over his turf. I'm still stretched out pretty thinly." Oliver said.

"Ok, nice try. Talk to the controller about tax initiatives and councilman Garcia about sanitation. I also put the applications for deputy mayor on your desk." Thea said as she walked away.

* * *

The next day, Oliver, Laurel and Roy were standing in the bunker, reviewing the evidence Oliver had gathered on their newest player, Tobias Church.

"Oliver, I know you don't want to hear this, but Church is a lot more organized than these other criminals we've been stopping and he has a track record to prove it. I mean, he took over the criminal underworlds of Hub City, Keystone, Bludhaven and White Holland and considering how many crime families there are in Star City, he'll be able to rally them all in a week into a super gang. There's only 3 of us and we don't even have tech support. Maybe it's time to start focusing on building a new team." Roy said.

"Roy." Oliver began, only to have Laurel cut him off.

"You know he's right Ollie, so don't even bother denying it. Both Thea and Felicity have made it clear that they're not coming back and considering that John reenlisted in the military, we have no guarantee he'll come back either. It's been 6 months. I think it's time we start adding numbers to our ranks, especially considering how many people want to volunteer." Laurel said.

"Look I don't have the time or the temperament to train a new team." Oliver said.

"Oliver, this isn't about you not wanting things to change, it's about the fact that they already have and we can't just pretend otherwise. If we're going to stop Tobias Church, we need all the help we can get. The fact that Church took members of your administration hostage proves that." Roy said, since Church had taken 4 councilmembers hostage while attempting to take Oliver hostage as well, though that didn't end well, since Oliver was able to defend himself, but not the councilmembers.

"I'm done discussing this." Oliver said as he walked out of the room.

"I knew he was stubborn, but this feels like something else." Roy said.

"Agreed. The question is what?" Laurel asked.

* * *

Oliver had just finished leaving a voicemail to John before finally accepting that John and Thea weren't coming back and was visiting a grave in the cemetery that he hadn't visited in 3 years.

"Hey Tommy. I know it's been awhile since I've visited you and I'm sorry for that. I just, I don't know what to do anymore. Things here have really gone south lately. Corruption in the SCPD is so high I don't know who I can trust in there anymore, being the Green Arrow is a lot harder now without John, Felicity and Thea, Laurel and Roy are talking about building a new team and while on some level, I know they're right, I just can't bring myself to trust anyone else and as far as me being the mayor goes, I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I thought I could do the job. I'm in way over my head." Oliver said as he looked down at where his best friend now rested.

"Things lonely for you at the top Mr. Mayor." A familiar voice said and Oliver turned to see Quentin Lance standing behind him.

"Quentin, I didn't know that you were back in town. Is Donna?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, she and I are doing fine. We got back in town a few days ago. But anyways, I just came from Laurel's place and she told me what's going on." Quentin said and Oliver could see he was holding a folder.

"Actually, being the mayor isn't the job that's lonely." Oliver said.

"Thea?" Quentin guessed.

"Thea's not coming back. Neither is John. There's a Russian proverb. I've been thinking about it a lot recently. Akula, kotorya Ne plavayet, Ne tonet. "The shark that does not swim drowns." You don't move forward, you die." Oliver said.

"Listen, you will die if you try taking on this Tobias Church by yourself." Quentin said.

"There's no more team, at least, not the team I'd need to keep this city safe. Roy, Laurel and I, we're stretched thin Quentin, and I can't trust anyone in the department." Oliver told him.

"Then don't. Just trust these guys." Quentin said as he handed Oliver the folder and Oliver opened it to see it revealed resumes of police officers.

"Lieutenant Conahan. I trained him back in the day. The guy's so clean, he doesn't even double park, and he's vouched for each of these officers." Quentin said.

"To do what?" Oliver asked him.

"To help you whatever way we can." Quentin answered.

"We?" Oliver asked skeptically.

"Look, I don't know any Russian proverbs, all right, but both of us have got to move on." Quentin told.

"Yeah." Oliver finally agreed.

"I thought that was going to be a bigger fight." Quentin admitted.

"Well, maybe I'm finally realizing that I don't have a choice if I want to be able to do both of my jobs right." Oliver admitted and Quentin just nodded.


	2. Chapter 2

After working with Lieutenant Conahan and the others to successfully rescue the councilmembers from Church, Oliver realized that maybe he was wrong and that maybe there were still some decent cops left out there, which was why he was currently standing outside City hall with the same officers who helped him pull of the rescue in front of the press.

"Good morning. I had intended to state my position on the anti-crime initiative during the city's tribute to those who gave their lives in the fight on Genesis day, but that speech was cut short. In the intervening days, I have refined my position. Now, I have been reluctant to embrace the A.C.I. Because of widespread corruption within our police department, but these 4 officers have shown me and the entire city that there are still good men and women in the SCPD. Today I am announcing the formation of the anti-crime unit. These 4 officers will report directly to me, and by working together, we will begin the process of saving our city." Oliver said and Laurel and Thea both smiled at Oliver as the press applauded and Laurel was honestly hoping that maybe now Oliver was willing to consider building a new team as well.

* * *

"What are you doing down here?" Laurel asked Oliver as she entered the bunker.

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked.

"Well, considering that you probably just pulled one of the biggest and quickest turn arounds in your mayoral approval ratings in what is probably the history of this city, I thought you'd be out celebrating." Laurel said.

"Church is still out there and something tells me that he's not through with Star City by a long shot." Oliver told her.

"Still, with the ACU on your side, plus the new team, I think it's safe to say that Mr. Church will taking a new residence in Iron Heights sooner, rather than later." Laurel said.

"I see what you did there, but you act as though this new team is a done deal." Oliver said.

"Oh, that. Well, I just thought since you decided to "keep swimming" as mayor, you might do the same as Green Arrow." Laurel said.

"You might be right." Oliver said.

"My dad told me about the Russian proverb, by the way. Very poetic. Wait Did you just say I might be right? Are you ok?" Laurel asked and Oliver just smiled at her.

"I've been looking into these dossiers you and Roy compiled for me. Particularly the guy in the hockey mask I keep seeing on my missions." Oliver said.

"Oh, you mean Wilddog?" Laurel asked, causing Oliver to look at her.

"Curtis came up with the name and he's another candidate. After all, not only would he make an excellent choice for Felicity's replacement, but he wants to help out in the field. Maybe we should let him." Laurel said.

"It says here that Wilddog's real name is Rene Ramirez." Oliver said.

"So, if you're looking at resumes does that mean that?" Laurel asked.

"I'm thinking of recruiting him, yes, but before I commit, there's one more person I want to get an opinion from." Oliver said and Laurel nodded, since she knew who that was and honestly thought that it was a good idea.

* * *

Oliver was now sitting in front of a computer, video chatting with John.

"Hey, buddy. How you doing?" Oliver asked.

"Besides feeling like I've got the worst case of deja vu ever, I'm not bad. How about you? You still the mayor?" John asked with a smile.

"Yeah. They haven't voted me out yet, so." Oliver laughed.

"Yeah, well, give it a little bit of time, man. They'll come to their senses." John said and they both laughed together.

"I got your message. You all right?" John asked.

"I'm all right. I wanted to bounce something off of you and get your perspective." Oliver said.

"Ok. On?" John asked.

"Laurel and Roy thinks that it's time we put together a new team." Oliver said.

"And you want to know if I think that's a good idea?" John said.

"I do." Oliver nodded.

"I think it is." John said and he could tell that Oliver was a little disappointed with his answer.

"It wasn't exactly the response you were looking for, right?" John asked with a smile.

"No," Oliver laughed, "But I'm not surprised. I need to make peace with the fact that things aren't going to go back to the way they were."

John nodded before saying "Looks like you're finally ready to start moving again Oliver. And don't worry, I won't be gone forever. When I get home after this tour and I will come home, I'll pick up where I left off."

"I'm looking forward to it John, this place just isn't the same without you." Oliver said.

"Well, I am impossible to replace. How many times have you ditched your security detail so far?" John asked.

"At least twice as many times as I ditched you and I have to say, compared to that, this is cakewalk." Oliver said and John laughed.

"I figured as much. I gotta go, but I'll talk to you soon Oliver." John said.

"See you soon John." Oliver said as he hung up.

* * *

Later on that night, Lieutenant Conahan on his way out of the SCPD talking to his wife on the phone.

"Hey, honey. Yeah, I'm headed home. Yeah, it was a good day. It was real good. Diapers and formula. You got it. I'll be home in a bit." Conahan said as he hung up only to hear footsteps behind him. He turned to see a man that he assumed was the Green Arrow.

"How you doing? Help you with something?" Conahan asked, just to have 'Green Arrow' attack him with throwing stars, knocking him down.

"Green Arrow?" Conahan asked as he groaned in pain as the man to came into his view and Conahan could clearly tell that this was not the Green Arrow.

"No. I'm not Green Arrow." The man said as he pulled out another throwing star and threw it into Conahan's neck, killing him.

"I am Prometheus." the man said before he walked away.


	3. Chapter 3

"I see that building a new team is not going as smoothly as we anticipated." Laurel said to Oliver as he entered the bunker after the recruits most recent training session.

"They all quit. I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to train a new team. They're impossible to train. Rene is a maniac and a loose cannon that questions me at every turn, Curtis, Curtis is completely inexperienced and the only future I see him having in operations is behind a desk, Evelyn seems to think that I'm going to hold her hand at every turn and Rory, well, he doesn't seem to be a team player." Oliver said angrily before he caught the amused look on Laurel's face.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"This all just sounds very familiar to me. After all, I believe the original team had a very similar line up. Roy was the loose cannon, I was completely inexperienced, Thea and Felicity both seemed to expect you to guide them at first and well, you weren't exactly a team player when you first started out either Ollie. But you know how we got through all that to become the well organized crime fighting team we were. We trusted each other completely. After all, I don't think any of us really trusted the Hood or the Arrow or even the Green Arrow until we found out who it was under that hood. Do you really expect the recruits to trust someone to lead them when all they see is a man in a hood and a mask?" Laurel asked him and she could tell that Oliver wasn't willing to back down from his position that easily.

"It took me years 5 in Hell to turn into someone capable of going out there." Oliver began, only to have Laurel interrupt him.

"Oh, were those 5 years just full of pain and suffering, or did you have someone who taught you?" Laurel asked him.

"I had a few people who taught me, and I was trying to teach them." Oliver protested.

"What, to take a punch? An insult? You keep expecting them to do what you're telling them to do, and then you're not giving them any reason. You just keep jabbing them with a cattle prod, expecting them to perform." Laurel reminded him and she could tell that now Oliver looked defeated, right as Curtis came down.

"Curtis, do you know what the purpose of that exercise is?" Oliver asked, wondering if Curtis had figured it out.

"To figure out the purpose of this exercise?" Curtis said.

"No, it's to work together, because that's the only way that you win. That is what I have been trying to teach all of you." Oliver said.

"Well, maybe there's a reason why you couldn't. We don't trust you." Curtis said.

"That's on you." Oliver told him.

"No, man. That's on you. Because you don't trust us, because you don't want us." Curtis said and Oliver couldn't deny that.

"Ok, this is a setback, but we can salvage this. They'll listen to you. Can you just tell them how Oliver usually approaches things and." Laurel began.

"I tried that. I told them all about how you guys and Speedy and Spartan and Overwatch were a family, and even though you were tough and scary and even a little abusive, they clearly trusted you because they stood by you. But then it hit me. No, they didn't. They left, and now I know why. You don't respect people. You don't know how to have partners. You don't build people up. You tear them down. I thought I could trust you- we could trust you. I was wrong. And that's why I'm out, too." Curtis said as he then walked out.

"You can't deny that he made a few good points Ollie. I mean, I can remember how you took me being the Black Canary at first. You tried to stop me." Laurel said.

"But eventually I came around after you proved to me that you could handle it." Oliver reminded her.

"Yeah, but we already trusted each other. I knew who you were. The recruits, they don't. All they see is a man in a mask who doesn't seem to want them. You have to meet them halfway." Laurel said.

"You're right. I failed these recruits as a leader." Oliver finally admitted.

"Well, that's because you're not a leader. Well, in your defense, you never set out to be. You never planned on doing this with partners. Though, I don't think you really ever had a way around that one." Laurel said.

"How so?" Oliver asked.

"When I got to know the you who came back from Lian Yu and then when I found out who you were, I was in awe about how different you were from the man who cheated on me with my own sister.. I had never met somebody so passionate So focused and determined to make a real difference. But the recruits didn't get to see the real you because all you showed them was this angry guy in a mask, like scary angry." Laurel told him.

"I just thought that if they didn't know who I was, it would make things easier." Oliver said.

"How would that make things easier for them? " Laurel asked, confused.

"For me. Easier for me." Oliver clarified.

"When I was in the Bratva ." Oliver began.

"You never talk about your time in Russia." Laurel interrupted.

"Nobody in the Bratva uses their real names. Nobody knows anything about anyone's life before they were Bratva." Oliver told her.

"Sounds lonely." Laurel said as she put her hand on Oliver's shoulder.

"It's effective. They teach you that the only person you can trust is yourself, that without personal attachment, there can be no loss. Felicity, Thea, Dig, even Roy. I let them into my crusade. I let them in then they left. I was protecting myself." Oliver finally admitted.

"I just think you're missing something." Laurel said.

"Only one thing?" Oliver asked her and Laurel smiled.

"The reason the original team worked so well was because of the trust and respect that everyone had for Oliver Queen, not the Green Arrow. Oliver is the one who makes a good leader. He's the one that runs a good team. He's the one that I chose to stand by and that I continue to choose to stand by. He's the one I chose to fall in love with all over again." Laurel said as she kissed his cheek before leaving Oliver to his thoughts.


	4. Chapter 4

"Any idea why the green guy called us here?" Rene asked as he, Curtis, Evelyn and Rory all gathered in the training area.

"I'm here because I owe you all an apology." Green Arrow said as he, and to the recruits' surprise, Black Canary and Arsenal entered the room.

"Well this is something I've gotta hear." Rene said as they all turned to face the Green Arrow.

"First I want to thank you all for coming back." Green Arrow began.

"We only came back because we heard you were going to be apologizing." Evelyn said.

"Look, very recently, someone told me that if I'm going to be able to trust you, then you should also be able to trust me. And now I realize that if you can't trust someone that you don't even know the true identity of. So I wanted to let you know that if you agree to come back, you won't just be signing on with the Green Arrow." Oliver said as he lowered his hood and mask and Laurel and Roy did the same.

"You'll be signing on with Oliver Queen." Oliver said.

"So wait a minute, the Green Arrow is really the mayor, the Black Canary is the District Attorney and Arsenal is really the old Arrow." Evelyn said.

"I had the same cognitive dissonance." Curtis said, rubbing it in their faces that he already knew their identities before the others.

"Actually, I was the Arrow. Roy was just taking the fall for me to atone for a crime he'd done a year prior." Oliver said and by the look on Roy's face, the recruits knew not to ask.

"I hope you don't think I'm going to apologize for the trash I talked about you." Rene said.

"No more than I'm going to apologize for the tough training, but I understand that you all need to trust me. This is as far as I know how to go." Oliver said.

"You're sort of asking without asking if we want to come back, right?" Rory asked.

"That's exactly what he's doing." Laurel said.

"Ok. Good. Then I'm in." Rory said.

"So am I." Evelyn said.

"Me, too, but if future training is going to be like this, I think that at least until I get up to speed with the rest of you guys, I'm mostly going to just work the comms." Curtis said and Oliver nodded before turning to Rene.

"Wild Dog?" Oliver asked him.

"I'll fight any war as long as I trust who's leading me into battle But we have got to rethink this codename." Rene said and Oliver smiled.

"No chance." Oliver said with a smile.

"So, what happens now?" Evelyn asked.

"Now, Roy and Laurel are going to help me begin your real training." Oliver said as the three of them grinned in a way that the recruits did not like.

* * *

The next night, Green Arrow and Arsenal were following some low level drug dealer on a rooftop while Laurel and the recruits watched from the training facility.

"So what are we looking at here?" Rory asked.

"Carl Roberto. Frequent flyer at Iron Heights and I know this because I'm actually the one who prosecuted him the last time he was caught." Laurel said.

"Seems like the only thing he's good at is getting arrested." Rene commented.

"He's not much of a challenge for the Green Arrow." Curtis pointed out.

"He's not looking for a challenge. This is about teaching the 4 of you what happens out there and how to handle it." Laurel said.

"Well, I'm up for any lesson that doesn't involve him punching us in the face." Evelyn said and the others nodded their agreement as they watched Roberto punch Green Arrow.

"Oh, he's gonna get it now." Rene said.

* * *

After dealing with Roberto, Oliver and Roy entered the facility and Oliver gave the sample to Curtis.

"Thanks, I've always wanted to try drugs." Curtis said sarcastically.

"Not funny. I need you to analyze this at your lab and see if you can if you can figure out where this is being manufactured." Oliver said and Curtis nodded.

"Actually, I think my office may have an idea on where to at least start our search for Derek Sampson." Laurel said.

"And while analysis and forensics is cool and all, but that stuff takes time. I know the neighborhood where this dealer's slinging out of. I think I can guess where the Stardust is being made." Rene said.

Oliver looked towards Laurel and Roy and Roy said "We both know that he's as stubborn as I was, so I'd recommend at least pursuing this lead, since you never know, it could come in handy." Roy said.

"Fine, Rene, I want you and Roy to check out the location, but it's only recon. Any information you get, you give to me and the ACU." Oliver said.

"Ok, but why not just take Sampson out now?" Rene asked.

"Because the DA's office has a plan to flip Sampson for the suppliers, which we can't do if he's dead." Laurel said and Oliver nodded.

"If you're going to be a part of this team, then you need to be able to see the big picture." Oliver said and Rene nodded.

"Let's suit up and head out." Roy said and Rene nodded.

"How do you get away with taking so much time off work?" Evelyn asked Roy.

"Well, it helps that I'm on Mayor Queen's Anti-Crime Unit and I'm dating his chief of staff." Roy said with a smile before he and Rene headed out.


	5. Chapter 5

"You wanted to see Oliver?" Roy asked as he entered Oliver's office to see Oliver, Laurel and Thea all standing there and Oliver and Laurel looked pissed.

"Laurel, why don't you tell Roy what you told me?" Oliver asked her.

"Happy to. Roy, like I said, my office and I had a plan to flip Derek Sampson for his Stardust suppliers, but since he was killed last night by a vigilante in a hockey mask, we can't do that anymore, care to explain." Laurel said.

"Wait, I'm confused, I thought that there was another guy on your team who wore the hockey mask." Thea asked.

"There is, but since he's a loose cannon, I sent Roy with him to keep an eye on him while they were doing recon on a suspected location. So how is it that Wilddog was able to kill Sampson?" Oliver asked Roy, who was cursing under his breath.

"Well, Evelyn decided to tag along and then Rene decided to be bit too trigger happy when he found out he was right about Sampson and things just escalated from there." Roy said.

"Roy, the whole reason I sent you along with Rene was to keep him under control." Oliver reminded him.

"I know, but when Evelyn revealed that she'd stowed away, I also had to protect her to." Roy said and Oliver nodded.

"I will speak with them and Curtis and Rory about this to, but for right now, get back to work." Oliver said and Roy nodded before he walked out of the mayor's office.

"What was that about?" Thea asked.

"One of my recruits, Rene, I guess he's getting a little tired of waiting on the sidelines, so I decided to give him a little bit of leeway and run a recon only mission and he jeopardized the DA's office's possibly one shot at taking down this Stardust menace, so now." Oliver began.

"Look, I'm not going to justify Rene's actions, since you gave him clear orders and he chose not to follow them, but this situation sounds familiar. Like how reckless Roy was when he first started out, and now he's one of your seconds." Thea said.

"Roy had the Mirakuru in him which made him unstable. Once we got it out of him, he fell in line." Oliver said.

"What about me. Before my bloodlust was cured, I seem to recall having control issues myself, so much so that I created Anarchy." Thea said.

"But you still knew how to fall in line when you needed to. Rene, he doesn't." Oliver said.

"Ollie, I think you're focusing so much on Rene that you're forgetting that unexpected variable was in play last night. Maybe if Evelyn hadn't had been there then Roy would've been able to reign in Rene." Laurel pointed out.

"Why are you cutting Evelyn so much slack?" Thea asked.

"Because it's my fault she's an orphan." Oliver said.

"What are you talking about?" Laurel asked.

"Her parents died at Reddington." Oliver said and now Laurel understood.

"What's Reddington?" Thea asked.

"It's where Darhk held you, John and Felicity last Christmas. We were so focused on getting you guys out that we completely forgot about all the other people." Laurel said.

"So you feel responsible for what happened to Evelyn's family, that doesn't change the fact that she disobeyed your orders. If anything, it means that you should be just as hard on her as anyone else. After all, I seem to recall Roy telling me about how despite you feeling responsible about his being injected with Mirakuru, it never stopped you from being on hard on him when you needed to be. You turned Roy into a hero and the recruits need you to be the same type of teacher to them. All of them." Thea said.

"I really hate it when you're right." Oliver said to his sister.

"That's one of the reasons why I love being right so much." Thea said cheekily, right as Oliver's phone rang.

"Hello." Oliver said.

"Hey Oliver, how do you feel about a trip to Starling General?" Curtis asked.

"Why would I go there?" Oliver asked.

"Because Derek Sampson, the guy Rene put down, he just got up and is working his way out of there as we speak." Curtis said bluntly.

"I'm on my way." Oliver said as he hung up.

"What's going on?" Laurel asked.

"Derek Sampson just woke up at Starling General and sounds like he is not grateful to be alive." Oliver said.

"Where do you want me and Roy?" Laurel asked.

"As soon as your shifts end, I want both of you at the training facility with the recruits." Oliver said.

"Are you sure you don't want any backup?" Laurel asked.

"It's just one guy, how hard can it be?" Oliver asked as he left.

"Well, I guess we should be getting back to work." Thea said as she began to walk out.

"Not so fast, how you feeling? After all, this morning you were puking your guts out in the bathroom." Laurel asked her roommate.

"I'm feeling fine now, I guess it was just something I ate." Thea said unconvincingly.

"Yeah, alright, well if it turns out to be something more than that, you know you can tell me right." Laurel said.

"Yeah, of course, but Laurel, trust me, I am fine." Thea assured her.

Laurel nodded as she walked out, for while she didn't believe Thea for a minute, she knew better than to try and push her for answers.

* * *

Green Arrow had just arrived at Starling General to see Derek Sampson walking through the halls, just shrugging off any bullets that were fired at him.

"Derek Sampson, you have failed this city." Green Arrow said as he fired an arrow at Sampson, which hit him right in the left leg, a shot which normally would've crippled his target, but Sampson just pulled it out like it was nothing.

"Cool." Sampson said simply as he approached Green Arrow and punched him and they both found that the hit was much more effective than the hit of a normal man would be, as it sent Green Arrow back a few feet.

"Well, that was unexpected." Green Arrow said as he struggled to get to his feet as Sampson walked out of the room.


	6. Chapter 6

"So, how exactly does you giving me the riot act work?" Rene asked Oliver as he entered the facility.

"I'll get to you in a minute, but first, I think I need to address the fact that what happened to Derek Sampson might not have happened if you didn't have a stowaway on your mission." Oliver said as all eyes turned to Evelyn.

"You ratted me out Roy?" Evelyn asked.

"Sorry Evelyn, but you can't expect us to cover for you if your actions pose a threat to the general safety of this team." Roy said and Oliver nodded.

"Look, I get that you're all still learning to trust me, but at the same time, I'm still learning to trust you and you going out like that without regarding the possible consequences of your actions, isn't helping, especially since the number of people I actually do trust, I can count them on one hand and well let's just say it's easier for me to cut fingers off, rather than adding my other hand." Oliver said simply.

"Ok, I get it. I'm sorry. But Rene wasn't the only one who was getting cabin fever." Evelyn said.

"I told you, you impress me in here, maybe I'll let you impress me out there and the only reason I let Rene test his theory last night was to try and keep him from doing something stupid, no offense." Oliver said that last part to Rene.

"None taken." Rene said.

"That doesn't excuse your actions either." Oliver said turning to Rene.

"What?" Rene asked.

"You know, the whole reason Roy was there with you was because I needed him to be able to put you on a leash if necessary, but the thing is, I shouldn't have had to. You're a loose cannon and you lack self control. Last week you said you needed to be able to trust me. Fine. Well, I need to be able to trust you. If I can't, then why am I wasting my time with you?" Oliver asked him before walking out.

Laurel looked Rene in shock before saying "Never in my entire life did I think that I would meet somebody more stubborn than him. I would have lost that bet. And the thing is, he does have a point. If you want a place on this team, you need to learn self control." Then she walked out as well.

"Is this normal behavior around here?" Rory asked.

"More than I like to admit." Roy said.

* * *

Quentin was walking towards Oliver's office, wondering why Thea had told him that Oliver wanted to see him.

"You wanted to see Mr. Mayor?" Quentin asked as he entered Oliver's office.

"Considering how long we've known each other, I think we're on a first name basis Quentin." Oliver reminded him.

"Right but anyways, can I ask why you wanted to see me?" Quentin asked.

"I was wondering if you wanted me to speak with Pike as the other guy to get you your badge back." Oliver said.

"That's the thing, Pike already offered me back my badge, but I refused." Quentin said, much to Oliver's surprise.

"Really." Oliver said.

"You and I both know that you're the one who made more of a difference as the Hood, the Arrow and the Green Arrow then I ever did as a cop and honestly, I don't think I ever really got to do what I actually wanted to be a cop to do. At least, not since I handed over my detective's badge." Quentin said.

"And what is that?" Oliver asked him.

"Like I was making a difference." Quentin said and Oliver smiled.

"I know that feeling well. I've actually been feeling it in both of my jobs lately." Oliver said.

"Yeah well, I just wish I could find that sort of purpose in my again." Quentin said.

"Well, maybe you can. I find myself in need of a deputy mayor and I can't think of a better candidate than a former police captain." Oliver said.

"Are you offering me a job?" Quentin asked.

"Well, I know you said that the day you took a job from Oliver Queen would be a cold day in hell, but what about now?" Oliver asked.

Quentin smiled before holding out his hand.

"It would be an honor Mr. Mayor." Quentin said as Oliver shook his hand.

"Welcome aboard." Oliver said with a smile.

* * *

"So, what exactly did your tests kick back?" Oliver asked Curtis as they all met in the training facility.

"Sampson's physiology has changed and from what you described, he now has enhanced strength and he can't feel pain." Curtis said.

"Great, just what we need." Oliver said.

"We can't let the cops get to him first. Curtis, do whatever you have to track him down." Laurel said and Curtis nodded.

"I want to help, too." Rene said.

"I think you've done enough." Oliver told him.

"I'm sorry about before, but I get it now. I'll do whatever you need." Rene said, trying to make things right.

"What I need is to trust that when I do ask for your help, you're not immediately going to make the problem worse." Oliver said and Rene flinched.

"He said he was sorry and he wasn't the only one at fault." Rory said.

"Let us help. Yeah. We could canvass the city." Evelyn said.

"After what happened the last time you went looking for Sampson? Pass." Oliver said as he walked out.

* * *

Later that night, Laurel entered the bunker to find her boyfriend brooding at the table.

"Okay, is that Mayor brooding or Green Arrow brooding, since after everything that's happening with Susan Williams, it can go either way." Laurel said, since Susan Williams had turned Oliver offering her father a position as Deputy Mayor in a scandal.

"Thea's handling what's going with Susan Williams, since it's really just politics." Oliver said.

"Good, Green Arrow brooding, that I am bit more prepared for." Laurel said as she sat down next to him.

"Rene didn't listen to what I said, and he created a superhuman." Oliver said.

"True, but it's not like you've never had to deal with the unintended consequences of your actions before. Such as with Slade Wilson and Ra's al Ghul." Laurel said.

"Yeah, don't remind me." Oliver said.

"Exactly. So Rene made a mistake. Yes it was an incredibly huge mistake, but it's not like none of the members of the original team never name those types of mistakes before. Felicity sent a nuke to Havenrock, John put his trust in the wrong person and it led to my death, Thea went away with Malcolm Merlyn, I kept Sara's death from my dad for months and then tried to bring her back and then kept it a secret from you and you, well, do I even need to go into your mistakes." Laurel said.

"No, because I see them everytime I close my eyes." Oliver said.

"Look, when you're in charge, everything your team does is on you. Remember who taught me that that philosophy." Laurel said.

"Even what Rene and Evelyn did?" Oliver asked.

"He was right about being able to locate Sampson's operation. And while I'm not saying that Evelyn was in the right, but maybe if you'd let her and the other's stretch their legs in the city rather than keeping them cooped up, she wouldn't have been there. And we both know why you're keeping them cooped up." Laurel said.

"Because I don't trust them." Oliver said simply.

"Like you said, if you don't- if you won't, why are you wasting your time?" Laurel asked as the computers beeped.

"What's that?" Laurel asked.

"I had Curtis run an algorithm to ping in case anything unusual happens." Oliver told her.

"Unusual? That's casting a pretty wide net, especially in this city." Laurel reminded him.

"Well, all my other nets are coming up empty. Break-in at Allman Industrial." Oliver said.

"That could be anyone." Laurel pointed out.

"Well, do you know anyone besides Sampson who can get shot by security guards and then just shrug off the bullets?" Oliver pointed out.

"What'd he steal?" Laurel asked him curiously.

"I don't know. It's going to take time to figure that out, considering that warehouse is the size of 3 football fields. I'll get Curtis on figuring that out, but right now, we need to go." Oliver said.

"Where are we going?" Laurel asked, though she had an idea.

"To get the team." Oliver said like it should be obvious.


	7. Chapter 7

After the team took down Sampson, Oliver, Laurel and Roy decided that it was time to bring them all entirely into the fold.

"Where exactly are we going?" Evelyn asked as they all rode the elevator down to the bunker.

"Did the people who built this elevator know your secret, too?" Rene asked and Oliver just smiled.

"You know, I've been meaning to ask, what kind of a vigilante wears a hockey mask?" Evelyn asked Rene.

"I think it's cool." Oliver said with a smile as the elevator doors opened and nearly all the recruits except for Curtis lost their breath as they entered the bunker.

"Ok, everyone, just breathe normally. I know this is a lot to take in so." Curtis began.

"He fainted the first time he saw it." Laurel said, since the memory still made her chuckle.

"I had the flu. I had the flu, y'all." Curtis weakley tried to defend himself.

"So this is the bunk-the cav- ok. I like to call it the Arrow Cave." Curtis said as the recruits stared at mannequins of Speedy, Black Canary, Arsenal, Green Arrow and Spartan.

"This is quite a legacy you've left for us." Rene said.

"If tonight was any indication, I think you guys can handle it just fine." Oliver said with a smile.

* * *

The next day, Oliver was working on his motorcycle when he heard someone approach him.

"Oliver." Lyla said, causing Oliver to look up to see his best friend's wife walking up to him.

"Lyla, what's going on?" Oliver asked.

"We need to talk about John." Lyla said.

"Is he all right?" Oliver asked concerned.

"No. He's back in the country, and he's in prison. I need you to break him out." Lyla said.

"Where do we start?" Oliver asked and Lyla smiled at him gratefully.

"Oh, there's one other key detail I almost forgot to mention. John doesn't want us to break him out." Lyla said.

"Wait, what?" Oliver asked.

"He seems to think that prison is his penance for what he did to Andy." Lyla said.

"Ok, I have both heard and said some incredibly stupid things before, but that has got to be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. I'm not saying that John shouldn't do his penance, but not as a prisoner for a crime I'm sure he didn't commit." Oliver said.

"Nice to know you're always willing to do what's best for people, even and especially when it's against their wishes." Lyla said to Oliver.

"That's what makes it fun." Oliver said.

"What makes what fun?" Laurel asked as she and Roy approached them.

"Lyla, what's up?" Roy asked.

"John's taking a page from your book and is currently in military prison for a crime he didn't commit and he actually wants to stay there." Oliver said.

"So naturally, you're going to break him out against his wishes." Laurel said, knowing Oliver too well.

"I let Roy sit in prison for crimes he didn't commit and I couldn't do anything to help him, even though it was part of a plan, but I'm not going to do the same thing with John." Oliver said.

"Why is prison more appealing to John then coming home to his wife and child?" Roy asked.

"He thinks it's his penance for Andy." Lyla said.

"More like his penance for me." Laurel said and Oliver nodded.

"Another reason I'm going to get him out, so that maybe you can finally drill it into his head that what happened was not his fault and you don't blame him." Oliver said.

"It'll be my pleasure." Laurel assured him.

* * *

The next night, Green Arrow, Black Canary and Arsenal were taking the recruits on a training mission to apprehend one of Church's errand boys.

"Why do I always end up being the bait?" Ragman asked as he led their target down the alley.

"You're always the one who draws the short straw." Wilddog said over the comms from his sniper position.

"Quiet. Every time you're out in the field, you could die." Green Arrow said.

"Don't forget that, don't lose focus." Arsenal said.

"Mr. Terrific, do we have the target?" Black Canary asked.

"Headed toward the east exit, closing fast." Mr. Terrific said.

"Do we know what he stole?" Arsenal asked.

"Not yet, but I have a feeling we're about to find out." Mr. Terrific said.

"Only if we snag him in the cordon. Artemis, be ready." Green Arrow said.

"Does this mean I actually get to shoot someone? I mean, not, you know, shoot someone shoot someone. I just meant that more than." Artemis began.

"We know what you meant." Green Arrow said, rolling his eyes at Artemis's enthusiasm.

"You wait for him to reach the cordon, then engage. Do you copy?" Green Arrow said.

"Copy." Artemis said.

"Copy." Ragman said.

"Copy." Wilddog said as their target came into his sights.

"Hola, muchacho." Wilddog said.

"Wild Dog, that is Artemis' shot." Black Canary reminded him.

"I got him." Artemis said, right as gunshots rang out from Wilddog's position.

"What the?" Artemis asked.

"I got him." Wilddog said as he continued to fire and miss, only to have Ragman use his rags to entangle him as Black Canary used her sonic hand blasts and to knock him out as Green Arrow and Arsenal fired cable arrows and used them to slide down to the ground.

"That was Artemis's shot." Green Arrow said angrily.

"Dude was getting away." Wilddog said.

"No, he wasn't. And you missed. You were in the Navy. You should know better." Green Arrow said angrily.

"I was dishonorably discharged actually." Wilddog said.

"You think that I don't know that? Deliver that and the evidence to the anti-crime unit and then go home." Green Arrow said.

"What about tonight's training session?" Artemis asked.

"You're taking a few days off while I take care of some business out of the city." Green Arrow said as he fired another cable arrow and used it to swing away.


	8. Chapter 8

"Hey, what are you doing home? I thought you guys were having another training session for the recruits tonight." Thea said as she saw Laurel entered their apartment.

"Oliver canceled it. He's actually given the recruits a few days off." Laurel said.

"Alright, what's he up to?" Thea asked, knowing her brother all too well.

"He's helping Lyla deal with something regarding John." Laurel said.

"How so?" Thea asked.

"John's CO framed him for a crime he didn't commit and now he's in military prison and now Lyla's asked Oliver to help in breaking him out." Laurel said.

"Wait, isn't Lyla the head of a secret government spy organization? Can't she just use that to get John exonerated by looking into this general?" Thea asked.

"That's the thing, he doesn't want her to. He believes that this is his penance for killing Andy." Laurel said.

"That is ridiculous." Thea said.

"I know. But that's why Lyla went to Oliver, not only to break him out, but also so that Oliver could talk some sense into him. After all, we both know that Oliver is not afraid to do things in other people's best interests, even if it's against their wishes." Laurel said.

"Well I hope he succeeds." Thea said as suddenly, she got a little dizzy.

"Thea, are you okay?" Laurel asked as she grabbed her as Thea started to faint.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just got a little lightheaded." Thea said weakly.

"Still, I'm taking you to a doctor tomorrow so we can finally figure out what it is that's going on with you." Laurel said and Thea could tell it was end of discussion.

* * *

"Hey, where the hell is Oliver, it's a strange time for him to be taking a vacation." Quentin asked Laurel the next day when Oliver didn't come into work.

"You should probably just assume that he's not on a vacation, though trust me, you don't want to know." Laurel said.

"Considering what he does, you're probably right. But I guess that makes me acting mayor until he gets back. But anyways, if I heard correctly, an arrest was made last night that may help in our case against Tobias Church." Quentin said.

"Sergio Espinosa, long-time Los Halcones member turned Church strongman. The Green Arrow and his merry band of vigilantes left him gift-wrapped for us at anti-crime. The only thing that was missing was a bow." Laurel said with a smile.

"Well maybe you should ask Oliver if he can throw one in next time." Quentin said.

Laurel chuckled before Quentin then asked "Ok, so, I'm assuming that Oliver's out dealing with something for the other guy, but where's Thea?"

"She's feeling a bit under the weather right now, so she's taking a few personal days." Laurel said.

"Okay then, now, I understand that you were going to have a member of your office interrogate Espinosa." Quentin said to his daughter.

"Are you kidding. Considering what's at stake here, after I personally drop off the evidence that the team dropped off last night at lock up, I'm gonna lean on him as hard as I can myself to get him to flip on Church." Laurel said and Quentin smiled at his daughter proudly.

"I hope you don't mind, but I think I'll accompany you to lock up, just as a precaution." Quentin said.

"Says the man whose daughter is a metahuman." Laurel reminded him.

"Says the woman who needs to keep her meta status secret." Quentin reminded her.

"Touche." Laurel conceded.

* * *

In the meantime, Oliver had just snuck into Langham and had just planted a transponder on the monitors, allowing Lyla to tap into them.

"I've got eyes on now. I'll walk you to Johnny's cell." Lyla said over the comms.

"Copy that." Oliver said as he headed that way.

"Cell 1138, right side, third from the left." Lyla said.

"He's not here." Oliver said as he arrived at an empty cell.

"Give me a minute while I scan the feeds. Oh, no." Lyla said.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"They moved him into gen pop. You go in there, neither of you are getting out." Lyla said.

"Talk to me. When's he coming back to his cell?" Oliver asked her.

"Outside our window." Lyla said.

"If those MPs wake up, the first thing they're gonna do is move John and all the other prisoners to a more secure location, and we lose our shot." Oliver said.

"Abort. We're blown." Lyla said, but Oliver wasn't willing to give up that easily.

* * *

"What's with the 911?" Roy asked Laurel as the whole team minus Oliver entered the bunker when he noticed Laurels' current state.

"What happened to you?" Roy asked.

"Tobias Church happened." Laurel said.

"That evidence that you guys recovered from Kord Industries- modified to go boom." Quentin said.

"He wanted it to be put into lockup." Roy realized and Laurel nodded.

"And he wanted to raid it. One-stop shopping for weapons. Including those RPGs that he took from Amertek if this report's right." Curtis said as he read the report.

"We got to find out what he's planning to do with those weapons- because it ain't nothing good." Rene said.

"This is a really bad time for Oliver to be out of town." Evelyn said.

"Yeah. I just tried him. He's gone dark." Laurel said.

"Where exactly is he? I'd think this would be pretty high priority for him." Rory asked.

"He's helping a friend out. In the meantime, why don't you guys hit the streets? We want to figure out what Church is up to before it's too late." Laurel said and the recruits nodded before heading out.


	9. Chapter 9

John had just been escorted back to his cell and as soon as the door was locked, he was only half surprised when Oliver dropped from the ceiling.

"Hey John, how you doing?" Oliver asked poker faced as he lifted his mask.

"I'm not doing this. I told Lyla." John began, only to have Oliver interrupt him.

"Yeah. You can yell at us later, but right now, we're on a bit of a clock." Oliver said, completely ignoring John.

"Are you even hearing me right now? I don't want anything to do with this." John argued.

"The MPs are gonna do a count in a few minutes. My guess is they're only expecting to find one person in here." Oliver said, resorting to his old tricks.

"Really? So that's your play, blackmail? Do what you say, or you get caught in here, too?" John asked Andy.

"You're my brother, John. What happens to you happens to me." Oliver told him and John flinched at the reminder.

"Oliver I killed my brother. I went to the army to change, and I haven't changed." John said.

"I know, all right, and I know that you think this is your penance for that." Oliver said, only to have John interrupt him this time.

"Oliver, it's not just that. I trusted Andy. Even when you told me not to, I trusted him, and Laurel died because of it." John said.

"How many times do we have to remind you that Laurel is still alive and she doesn't blame you." Oliver asked him.

"The only reason Laurel is alive right now is because she had latent metahuman powers that decided to activate. But she shouldn't have been in a position where she needed meta healing in the first place. That was my fault." John said.

"Look, I get it, more than you know, but I need you, the team needs you, the city needs you. I'm not saying you shouldn't do your penance. You probably should, but do it as Spartan." Oliver said and after a few moments, John nodded at him and he pulled out a box.

"What's in the box?" John asked.

"It's an anti-molecular compound, and theoretically, it should eat through anything."

"Not gonna ask you how you got your hands on this." John said as Oliver began to spray the compound on the floor as it began to eat through.

"Hey. You came back for me, even against my wishes." John said thankfully.

"I guess I haven't changed that much either. Maybe that's what I have to do my penance for." Oliver said with a smile.

* * *

"That toy of yours is definitely coming in handy." John said as he and Oliver walked through the underground tunnels in the base.

"Project that Lyla's been keeping an eye on for Argus." Oliver said and John just chuckled.

"Should have known she'd be helping out." John said with a smile.

"Tell Johnny he can thank me later. You've got to keep moving. Follow the sublevel north 200 meters, then climb up." Lyla said as the comms fritzed.

"Comms are being jammed." Oliver said as they continued onward.

"That's never stopped us before." John said.

"It's only spurred us on." Oliver agreed as they reached the extraction point.

"Climb, I'm right behind you." Oliver said and John nodded as they began to climb the ladder.

Once they were about halfway up, Oliver looked down to see MP's climbing up behind them, so he sprayed the ladder beneath him with the antimatter compound, causing the bars to fall behind them.

"Handy." John said as they reached the manhole and climbed out.

"Here." Oliver said as he handed John a harness.

"What's this?" John asked.

"Just put it on. Let's go." Oliver said and Dig nodded as he put it on and they reached the extraction point.

"Dig, your harness." Oliver said as he clipped the harness to a cord on his belt.

"You two, freeze! Down on the ground! Lace your fingers behind your head! Do it now, or we'll shoot!" an MP said as he and a bunch of others surrounded them and John did what they said.

"John, don't move." Oliver said he fired a cable and suddenly they flown out of the area by a plane that Lyla was flying.

* * *

Oliver, John and Lyla were walking through the abandoned Hive headquarters.

"This place should keep you off the grid for the time being." Oliver said.

"Until we find a permanent solution." Lyla said.

"Hey. First things first." John said as he kissed his wife.

"Can't believe you broke me out of prison." John said.

"For better or worse, Johnny." Lyla reminded him of their vows.

"Told you I wanted to stay." John reminded her.

"And I figured if you wanted to make your own decisions then you wouldn't haven't gotten married." Lyla said with a smile and John laughed before Oliver walked out, a grim look on his face.

"What's wrong?" John asked.

"I just got a text from Laurel, Tobias Church kidnapped one of my new recruits. I gotta go." Oliver said.

"Hey Oliver, before you go. When earlier you said that you haven't changed, I'm starting to think that maybe that's a good thing. After all, you're a pretty decent guy after all." John said with a smile as they shook hands.

"It's good to have you back John." Oliver said before he headed out.


	10. Chapter 10

"Things have really fallen apart without Oliver, haven't they?" Curtis said as the team tried to to come to grips with the fact that they'd let Rene get captured.

"It's a good thing I'm back then." Oliver said as he walked in.

"Was he waiting for an entrance line?" Rory asked.

"Nope. He's just that cool." Roy said.

"I got your text. Have we found Rene?" Oliver asked Laurel, who shook her head no.

"You get John?" Laurel asked.

"Yeah. He's fine. He's holed up at HIVE. I couldn't write him off, and we are not gonna write off Rene. We're gonna find him, we're gonna bring him back Wherever he is." Oliver said and the whole team nodded.

* * *

"Tobias Church- where is he?" Green Arrow growled at a low life as he pinned him up against a wall.

"Don't know. Even if I did, whatever you're gonna do to me, he's worse." the guy said.

"How sure are you about that?" Green Arrow asked.

Another lowlife was currently running through an alley when he felt something wrap around his ankle and string him up from a rafter.

"Unh! Hey. You're a lot cuter than the green guy." the thug said as he saw Artemis enter his line of sight.

"Aw, you're kind of cute, too, in a "I feel sorry for you" kind of way. Where's Church?" Artemis asked.

"Yeah? Who wants to know?" the thug asked. "The green guy! Where's Church?" Green Arrow said as he and Ragman entered his line of sight.

"Look out!" Artemis said as the man fired at Ragman, who was forced to drop him briefly.

"You ok?" Artemis asked him.

"I'm better than this schmuck." Ragman said.

"Church-address now!" Green Arrow growled.

"I heard he's somewhere northwest of here, maybe by the water." the man said scared.

"Half the city's on the water." Artemis said.

"I swear that's all I know." the man said, causing Green Arrow to look at Ragman, who nodded before throwing the thug back.

* * *

"Any luck?" Laurel asked Curtis

"Does the fact that if I didn't know how much this monitor costs and how much it would hurt, I would punch this monitor tell you anything." Curtis said as Oliver and the others entered the bunker.

"Tell me you've had better luck than I've had." Curtis said.

"We might have narrowed it down to the northwest part of the city." Oliver said.

"Yeah, so now we're looking for a needle in a slightly smaller haystack." Evelyn said.

"I will run an algorithm, cross-referencing traffic cams with probable locations." Curtis said as John entered the bunker.

"Wow! This place just got really crowded." John said with a smile.

"Hey." Laurel said as she hugged John.

"Do people just walk into your secret base of operations?" Rory asked.

"Yes." Roy and Curtis responded.

"This is." Oliver began.

" Spartan. I'm guessing." Evelyn interrupted and Oliver just nodded.

"You guys must be the new kids on the block." John said.

"More like the Backstreet Boys. It was funny in my head." Curtis joked before realizing no one else found it funny.

"This is Rory Regan and Evelyn Sharp." Oliver said, making the introductions.

"John Diggle, and you are missing a man- Rene Ramirez. Lyla called in Argus for the search. Unfortunately, she's turned up nothing." John said.

"It's going around." Curtis said.

"We are gonna find Rene, and we're not gonna give up hope while we're doing it. I have an early meeting at city hall. I will check in with everybody soon." Oliver said as he headed out.

Is it just my imagination, or did Oliver just seem" Curtis asked Laurel.

"Optimistic. That's not usually a word I'd associate with his demeanor." Laurel agreed.

* * *

Oliver had just entered the conference room where Thea and Quentin were waiting for him.

"Rene?" Thea asked.

"Slow. What about the ACU?" Oliver asked.

"Too many cops on Church's dime keeping him 5 steps ahead, and with Conahan gone and Church's assault on the ACU, I'm thinking we got to bring more men into the fold." Quentin said.

"Well, do we have enough guys that we can trust?" Oliver asked.

"Pike says that a bunch of his men have volunteered since the attack on the ACU, so if you want, I can vet them, and I can, you know, make sure there's no bad apples." Quentin offered.

"Please. Let's get that done." Oliver agreed and Quentin nodded before leaving.

"Look. I know this is one of the last things you want to be dealing with right now, but the rezoning vote is in a few days." Thea said and Oliver looked confused for a few moments.

"Allowing us to expand low-income housing in Orchid Bay." Thea reminded him and Oliver's face lit up as he remembered.

"Yeah, yeah." Oliver said.

"Ok. Well, we need a 4/5 majority vote from city council in order to pass the ordinance, and." Thea said.

"Who are the holdouts?" Oliver asked.

"Only one that really matters- Councilman Kullens." Thea said.

"Ehh, he is decidedly non residential." Oliver said.

"I was gonna say he's the most stubborn man in the city compared to you, but that works." Thea said.

"Let's get into it. Oh and by the way, are you feeling alright? Laurel told me she took you to the doctor a few days ago." Oliver asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just ate something that didn't agree with me." Thea said since she had Laurel sworn to secrecy for right now and Oliver didn't need anymore distractions.

"Ok, but if it turns out to be anything else just let me know." Oliver said and Thea noded.


	11. Chapter 11

"We're at the latest probable, Curtis, but it's another dead end." Rory said as he and Evelyn investigated another possible location on Rene.

"Try not to use that phrase." Curtis said over the comms.

"Is that blood?" Evelyn asked as they noticed it on the floor.

"Looks like. Scratch that. We think this is where Rene was being held." Rory said.

"Was?" Curtis asked.

"Blood's still fresh. They must have just moved him." Rory said.

"KH-10 shows a panel van moving from that location 40 minutes ago." Curtis said.

"Can you track it?" Evelyn asked.

"Already on it." Curtis said.

"Got it." Curtis said.

"Where?" Evelyn asked.

"This is a little awkward, but Oliver made me promise that if we got our location on Rene I would only share it with him." Curtis said.

"That's actually not surprising at all." Rory said as he and Evelyn exchanged exasperated look.

* * *

"Lest I forget So you can pay the ferry." Church said as he tossed a gold coin over to Rene, who was currently digging his own grave.

"Heh heh heh. Why, man?" Rene asked.

"Because you pissed me off." Church said.

"No. Why this city? I mean, why come here?" Rene asked.

"Now why are you asking me that now?" Church asked.

"Cause if I'm gonna die tonight, it'd be nice to know why. From what I heard, you were popping in Bludhaven and Hub City. Why you messing with us?" Rene asked.

"Ahh. For your water access." Church said simply.

"Psss. Seriously." Rene asked.

"Through Star City's docks, I can move thousands of tons of heroin, Slam, Vertigo. I'm working on the biggest consolidation of drug enterprises anybody has ever seen. Only thing I'm waiting for is the Green Arrow to get out of the picture." Church said as Rene threw down the shovel.

"Little man, that grave ain't gonna dig itself." Church said.

"So how about you do the digging yourself?" Rene asked.

"Oh, you think I'm afraid to get my hands dirty, huh?" Church asked, right as an arrow was fired into a tree and took out Church's men. Rather than fighting, Church made it to the van and cleared out as the Green Arrow arrived on the scene.

"Are you ok?" Green Arrow asked Rene, who nodded.

"I thought Church would put up more of a fight." Green Arrow said.

"Probably realized he didn't have to." Rene said.

"What do you mean?" Green Arrow said.

"I was hurting so bad, it-it got so I couldn't even see straight. Barely even remember telling him." Rene said.

"Telling him what?" Green Arrow asked.

"Who you are. He knows you're Oliver Queen." Rene said and Oliver's blood turned cold.

* * *

"Should have been out there with you tonight, Oliver." John said as he, Oliver, Laurel and Roy all gathered in the bunker in front of their suits.

"Dig, you said you needed time. Don't be afraid to take it." Oliver said and John nodded.

"Still, Roy and I should've been there to." Laurel said.

"Tonight would not have made any difference. Church didn't want to fight. He wanted to run." Oliver said.

"That's because he knows killing the mayor is a lot easier than killing the Green Arrow," Roy said, only to have them look at him strangely, "What? We were all thinking it."

"I told Rene to stand down and recover. Rory and Evelyn are keeping an eye on Lyla and JJ, Roy, I want you on Thea and Laurel I want you on your dad in case Church tries to get to me through them." Oliver said and Laurel and Roy nodded before before Laurel headed out.

"What about Felicity? I mean I know she's out in Coast City, but considering your engagement to her was on the news." Dig said.

"I've already spoken to Felicity and she's assured me that she'll be fine." Oliver said.

"How can you be sure?" Dig asked.

"I trust her. Besides, why would Church go all the way out to Coast City when he has plenty of targets here." Oliver pointed out.

"True." John agreed.

"Oliver, I know you have a security detail, but you might as well have a bull's-eye painted on your head." John pointed out.

"John, I can disappear again. I'm still dealing with the fallout from not being around when the ACU was attacked, and there is actually a rezoning vote that needs my attention." Oliver said.

"Whoa. Wait. Doesn't a vote take a backseat to finding Church before he tells every criminal in the city who you are?" Roy asked.

"I have security. I'll be fine." Oliver said.

"Have you ever- has he ever actually said that and it turned out to be true?" Roy asked and both Oliver and John chuckled before Roy walked out as well.

"Do you agree with him?" Oliver asked.

"Well, I know I said it was a good idea to start a team, but what do we have- a Laurel Lance wannabe, a weird rag guy, a lunatic, and Curtis? Curtis just wasn't who I pictured." John asked.

"They have potential." Oliver defended.

"One of them got themselves captured and gave up your name." John pointed out.

"And I'd like you to debrief him." Oliver said.

"Debrief him?" Oliver said.

"Church told Rene that he's planning something, something big enough to involve 5 cities." Oliver explained.

"So Church just gave up his master plan?" John asked.

"He thought Rene was gonna be dead 5 minutes later. Church is trying to consolidate the drug trade through Star City, but he was waiting for the Green Arrow to be gone before he made his move." Oliver told him.

"Ok. Well, if that's true, I think I know a way we can turn this to our advantage." John said

"I'm all ears." Oliver said.

"Oliver, I know a guy, very specific skill set. I think he can be here in 24 hours." John said.


	12. Chapter 12

"Did you get my message?" Oliver asked Thea the next day as he got out of the elevator in City Hall.

"Yeah. Quentin and I can take care of ourselves. Still doesn't hurt to have a shadow." Thea said as they walked down the hall to his office.

"Is Councilman Kullens in there?" Oliver asked.

"Yes. He's waiting in your office with Susan Williams." Thea said.

"Thank you very much, fellas," Oliver said, waving off his security detail, "I didn't agree to an interview."

"Yeah? Well, she's shadowing him for some type of profile, and I already tried to get her kicked out, but he was adamant about having her in there." Thea said.

"Any advice?" Oliver asked.

"Don't screw it up." Thea said as they entered his office.

"Councilman Kullens." Oliver said as he shook the councilman's hand.

"Hi. Ms. Williams, it's a pleasure to finally meet you." Oliver said to the reporter.

"Really? Have you watched any of my pieces?" Susan asked.

"I have, and I think you're off the mark in certain instances." Oliver said.

"Is that on the record?" Susan asked.

"If you want to get an actual quote, Ms. Williams, you can go through all the proper channels. This meeting is strictly about the rezoning ordinance." Thea said and Oliver couldn't help but notice some condescension in her voice.

"Yes. Councilman, as you know, I ran on a platform of unity, but it is difficult for a city to be united when so much of the zoning within it remains exclusionary. We need to open it up, allow for more affordable housing, give the people a chance to start over and rebuild." Oliver began, only to have Kullens interrupt him.

"But the second the money starts rolling in, those families get squeezed out by crony capitalists." Kullens said.

"That's not gonna happen here." Oliver told him.

"Hard to believe considering your family's history." Kullens said.

"I'm sorry, councilman. I don't follow." Oliver said, confused.

"Well, the type of rezoning you're proposing happened downtown 25 years ago, but instead of affordable housing, we got skyrises, and one of them became the offices of Queen Consolidated." Kullens said and Oliver and Thea looked at each other.

"Is that true, Mr. Mayor? I'll consider that a no comment." Susan said.

"I can tell you have good intentions, but politics is the art of the real. I'm sorry. I'm not changing my vote." Kullens said as he got up and he and Susan left.

"Ok. Maybe you should just put an arrow in him." Thea said.

"Yeah don't tempt me." Oliver said.

* * *

The next day, Oliver was on his way to his office when as he expected, Thea approached him.

"What is Susan Williams doing in your office?" Thea asked him.

"I agreed to an off-camera interview." Oliver explained.

"Ok. So did you go out last night as the G-Green Arrow and get hit really hard in the head?" Thea asked and Oliver chuckled.

"Susan Williams is in our lives, Thea. If we don't make her an ally, then she's gonna remain an enemy." Oliver pointed out.

"Ok, but she's poison." Thea tried to argue, since ever since Susan had betrayed her trust, she was on Thea's list.

"Well, it turns out that if you ingest small amounts of poison over time you can develop an immunity." Oliver said before entering his office and closing the door.

"Good morning." Oliver said to Susan.

"When I got your call last night, I thought someone in my office was playing a prank on me." Susan said.

"Well, I thought Thea made a good point yesterday when she suggested that you go through the proper channels." Oliver said before gesturing to the couch in his office where they both took a seat.

"Ok. The interview I had in mind was going to be on camera." Susan said.

"Baby steps. May I ask you a question?" Oliver asked.

"I don't think you understand how this interview thing works." Susan said with a smile.

"Have your attacks on my administration been personal, or are they just good ratings?" Oliver asked.

"Don't see why they can't be both. Why are you asking?" Susan asked.

"Because I'm trying to figure out how hard I'm gonna have to work to win you over." Oliver said.

"You seem like a nice guy, but you're not a real politician." Susan reminded him

"I am under qualified." Oliver admitted.

"Vastly, and the city, my home, is suffering because of it." Susan said.

"I appreciate the fact that I haven't earned your trust yet. Susan, as someone who professes to care about Star City, I think that you owe it to the people of Star City to give me an opportunity to earn that trust, and I promise you I can't do that if I'm spending all of my energy dodging all of these grenades that you're lobbying at me, so here's my idea. You give me one month with no attacks. Let me show you what I can do, and if I don't deliver It's open season." Oliver proposed.

"One month." Susan agreed before writing something down on a piece of paper and handing it to him.

"What's this?" Oliver asked.

"My persona cell." Susan said.

"Why would I need that?" Oliver asked, though he had an idea.

"I think you can figure it out." Susan said.

"You are aware that I'm already in a relationship with District Attorney Laurel Lance right?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, but you never know." Susan said with a smile.

"Yeah, don't count on it." Oliver said as he showed Susan out.

"What was that about?" Thea asked.

"I think you might be right about Susan. She just gave me her number." Oliver said.

"You're quite the lady's man aren't you." Thea said.

"Yeah, not anymore, but I'd appreciate you not saying anything to Laurel about this until I have a chance to talk to her about it myself, besides, you never know when having a reporter's number could come in handy." Oliver said and Thea nodded.

"My lips are sealed." Thea assured him.


	13. Chapter 13

"Councilman, thank you for coming back." Oliver said as Kullens entered the conference room of city hall.

"I'm afraid you're just wasting both of our times." Kullens said.

"Maybe. After you educated us on Queen Consolidated, Thea and I thought we would do some of our own research." Oliver said and both he and Thea were delighted at the look of panic that briefly appeared on Kullens' face.

"Yeah, we were very curious to find out where our family's business was located." Thea said smugly.

"Heh heh. Heh heh heh. You would not believe how surprised and delighted we were to find out that you were one of those, um- what was-what was the term the councilman used?" Oliver asked Thea with a grin.

"Crony capitalists?" Thea supplied.

"Right. That you were one of those crony capitalists who pushed poor people out of those neighborhoods, hiding behind a shell company of course." Oliver said.

"The same company who owns controlling interest in a real estate developer who just filed for permits to redevelop Orchid Bay for commercial uses." Thea said.

"Your opposition to this rezoning, it's not political. It's-it's personal. I get it. You're trying to protect an investment. Susan Williams isn't shadowing you at the moment, but to me, this feels like a story she would like, so should I call her? Uh, she actually gave me her number this morning." Oliver said with an embarrassed and smug smile on his face.

"Are you blackmailing me, Mr. Mayor?" Kullens asked, though they both knew the answer.

"Well, councilman, it's like you said, politics is the art of the real." Oliver said as he banged the file on the table, causing Kullens to flinch.

* * *

"Well, that was fun. You made Kullens squirm." Thea said with a smile as she, Oliver and his detail exited City Hall.

"Guy's a career politician. Just needed to know where to apply the pressure." Oliver responded simply.

"How are you so sure about all this?" Thea asked.

"I'm the mayor of Star City, Thea. This is what I do." Oliver said as suddenly gunshots rang out in the area.

"Hey! Get in the car! Get in the car, get in the car." Oliver shouted as he made his detail focus on getting his sister into the limo before him, but before Oliver could follow, he was shot repeatedly in the chest.

* * *

"It's my sad duty to inform you that at 1:23 am, Mayor Oliver Queen was pronounced dead at Starling General. In his too-short life, Oliver Queen experienced great hardship, but he came through the other side with a passion for service, committed to making Star City a safer place for us all to call home." the team watched Quentin make his speech regarding Oliver's death on the tv in the bunker.

"Wow. He really didn't say anything that nice about you when you were alive." Laurel said as she turned to her boyfriend, who was still alive and was standing in the bunker next to her.

"Probably didn't deserve it." Oliver said with a smile as the elevator doors opened and another Oliver who was wearing the suit that had been shot at.

"Sorry about the suit." the other Oliver said before taking off the Oliver Queen mask to reveal another face underneath it.

"We haven't been properly introduced. Christopher Chance." the man said as he shook hands with Oliver.

"John referred to you as the Human Target." Oliver said.

"Well, that works better as a job description than it does as a nickname." Chance admitted.

"Right. How's Thea?" Oliver asked.

"Uh, she's a little shaken. You know, I didn't get a chance to tell her what was gonna go down until right before." Chance said.

"She is gonna be so pissed at you." Roy said with a whole smile.

"And, like, the whole city." Evelyn said.

"They're gonna find out, though, right? I mean, you can't stay dead forever." Curtis asked.

"No. Just until Church makes his big move." Oliver assured them.

"Well, that's what you're betting on now that the Green Arrow/ Oliver Queen is dead. Again." Laurel said

"Hey at least this time you know that's not the case. But yeah, that's the hope. Now we just need to figure out what he has planned." Oliver said.

* * *

"So thanks for doing this." Oliver said to Chance later on.

"Being killed is basically my job." Chance said.

"But, uh, not just for taking the bullets. I-I heard that you got Kullens to cave." Oliver said appreciatively.

"Yeah, and scored you a very pretty girl's phone number." Chance said.

"I-I heard that, too. And thankfully I also heard that you turned her down." Oliver said.

"No, but the truth is you did that." Chance said.

"I was under the impression that I've been down here all day." Oliver said.

"I don't just put on faces, Oliver. I become my target, and to do that, I've got to learn everything there is to know about them, more than they know about themselves. I've got to become them." Chance said.

"My apologies." Oliver said with a chuckle.

"What for? Man, you got a great life." Chance said and Oliver chuckled.

"You're the mayor But you'd still rather be the hood than Oliver Queen." Chance said.

"Oliver Queen has-has never really been my better half." Oliver admitted.

"Nobody moves forward in life when they're hiding behind a mask. Trust me. And if Oliver Queen was really your worse half, you would not be with Laurel Lance right now." Chance reminded him, leaving Oliver to think.

* * *

Later on that night, Laurel and Oliver were sitting in the bunker's living quarters, having a small makeout session.

"Not that I'm complaining, but what was that about?" Laurel asked him.

"Well, Chance made some good points to me earlier and it made me realize that between our jobs and our nightly activities, we haven't exactly had any alone time and since I'm dead again in the eyes of the public and for once, you actually know the truth, so I thought that maybe we could finally have some time alone together." Oliver said.

"Is this also to butter me up before you tell me about that bitch Susan Williams trying to make a move on my man?" Laurel asked with a smirk.

"Damn you Thea." Oliver muttered.

"Hey it's ok, I'm not mad at you. If anything, the fact that you turned her down just shows how much you've changed. But I am hurt you asked Thea not to tell me." Laurel said.

"The only reason I did that was because I wanted to tell you myself and I wanted to make sure you heard the story from me." Oliver explained.

"In that case." Laurel said as she kissed him again and pushed him back against the bed, however before they could continue, Oliver's phone buzzed.

"Talk about lousy timing." Laurel muttered as she got off of Oliver and let him reach his phone.

Oliver smiled at her before looking at his phone.

"It's John and Rene, they have something and they're on their way here now." Oliver said regretfully.

"We'll pick this up later." Laurel promised him as they got up.


	14. Chapter 14

"The Trust goes to the Brace 0-4 in 72. Could that be any more obscure?" Curtis asked as he, Roy, Oliver, Laurel, John and Rene all gathered in the bunker.

"0-4 in 72 could be the time and date. 4 am, 72 hours after he held Rene?:" Oliver suggested.

"Yeah, that's soon." John said.

"And the Brace is what the guys in my hood used to call the private airstrip outside Pennytown." Rene said.

"Halpin-Brace Airfield." Curtis asked.

"That's the one, and this Trust, I think it's the heads of the crime families that Church controls." Rene said.

"That's a bigger leap than Curtis took at the Beijing Olympics no offense." Roy said.

"None taken." Curtis said.

"When he had me dig my own grave, he talked about bringing this Trust together. That's his big play, man." Rene said.

"4 am's in 20 minutes. Wake up the team. We don't have much time." Oliver said and the others nodded before moving out.

* * *

"You're all geared up." Rene said to John who approached him in his Spartan suit.

"Oliver didn't bust me out of prison for me to warm the bench, right? So what's up? You ready to move out?" John said.

"Decided not to go. Last thing any of you need right now is me screwing things up again." Rene said.

"When it comes to guilt and recrimination, the line forms behind me. I didn't think I was ready to face what I had done, but I'm wearing this suit again because I think it's a path to redemption. And it could be for you, too." John said as he held Rene's mask to him.

"Good flight?" Church asked one of his subordinates.

"Everyone's very interested in hearing what you've got planned, Tobias." the man said.

"It's called the largest drug enterprise on the western coast- shipments 24/7 in a city where cops are afraid or on our payroll, and as a added bonus, the mayor's an alkie." Church said as they shared a laugh before Church's vigilante guard approached them.

"Sentry reports movement on the perimeter." the guy said.

"I thought you'd taken out the Green Arrow." the crime lord said.

"Aw, it's not him. It's the JV squad." Church said confidently as gunshots rang out and they all turned to see Spartan firing his gun and Arsenal firing explosive arrows at them.

"Chill out, damn it! Deal with them!" Church ordered and his thugs nodded and moved out.

"It's good to have you back man." Arsenal said to Spartan.

"Good to be back bro." Spartan said as they fanned out as the bullets rained down on them, only to have them stopped by a sonic blast.

"Focus on the fight now gentlemen, don't expect me to do all the work." Black Canary said as she used her hand blasts to knock individual thugs back.

* * *

Church had just made it to the hangar after dealing with a brief fight with Wilddog, only to be stopped by the Green Arrow.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Green Arrow said in modulated voice.

"Heh. You survived. I guess I'll just have to kill you again, Oliver. You mind if I call you Oliver?" Church asked as he put on his brass knuckles.

"Yes, I do." Green Arrow said as they fought and soon Green Arrow had Church at his mercy.

"Get up! You're done, Church!" Green Arrow shouted as he yanked Church up.

"You got much worse coming-heh- and you don't even know it. He calls himself Prometheus, and he's gonna end you." Church said, just to have the Green Arrow punch him unconscious.

* * *

The next day, Oliver was holding a press conference to explain his actions.

"First of all, I would like to apologize for perpetrating a deception on this scale. The ACU had Intel that we may be able to catch Mr. Church but only if his plan moved forward, which would only happen if he believed the mayor of Star City was dead. In my mind, this was a worthwhile gamble, and it paid off. Mr. Church and his underlings were apprehended, as well as the heads of organized crime enterprises in Bludhaven, Hub City, Keystone, and White holland." Oliver said to the press's applause

"One more piece of good news. I have just received word that the city council passed an ordinance rezoning for low-income housing." Oliver added.

* * *

After the conference, Oliver and Chance were speaking in his office.

"And with Church in custody, I take it that your identity is safe." Chance asked.

"I hope so. Thanks for the assist and the personal insight." Oliver said as he shook hands with Chance.

"It's just part of the service." Chance said as Laurel entered his office as Chance left.

"Hey." Laurel said.

"Hey, I wasn't aware we had a meeting." Oliver said to his girlfriend, who just smiled at him.

"Wasn't aware I needed one to see you." Laurel said.

"Trust me, you have a permanent appointment." Oliver assured her as they kissed.

"Good answer, but anyways, do you think what Church said was true about there being a new player in town?" Laurel asked.

"I'm sure of it. What I'm not sure of is if Church gave him my identity." Oliver said.

"Let's hope not." Laurel said.

* * *

Tobias Church was currently in an armed police truck on his way to Iron Heights, nervously looking around.

"Those cops riding protection aren't on your payroll, buddy. Nobody's breaking you out." The cop sitting across from him said.

"That's not what I'm worried about. You guys should have flown me to Iron Heights." Church said.

"Yeah. I heard you liked helicopters. What's got you spooked?" the cop asked as they heard the tires screech and the police on the radio as gunshots were fired.

"Don't go out there." Church warned.

"Why? So I can protect your ass in here?" the cop asked.

"So you don't get killed." Church said, but as he predicted, the cop ignored him and opened the door, only to get a throwing star in the neck and Church looked to see Prometheus standing there.

"I knew we'd be having this conversation. Just hear me out. You want the Green Arrow. I can give him to you. I can give you his name." Church said.

"Too bad for you that I already know his name. And the names of those closest to him." Prometheus said as he simply killed Church with a throwing star into Church's neck, killing him before walking away.


	15. Chapter 15

Later on that night, Roy and Thea were out at dinner and Thea decided that maybe it was time to tell Roy the truth about something she'd been keeping a secret from him.

"How are you able to afford all this?" Thea asked since Roy had insisted on paying for dinner and they were at one of the most expensive restaurants in town.

"Being the lead cop on the ACU has its advantages." Roy said and Thea nodded.

"Anyways, you said there was something important you wanted to tell me." Roy said to Thea.

"Yes, there is. You know how I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately?" Thea asked.

"Yeah, so?" Roy asked.

"Well, Laurel made me go to the doctor a few weeks ago and they discovered that I wasn't sick, but." Thea said and Roy quickly put it together.

"You're pregnant aren't you?" Roy asked.

"Yeah, I am. I mean, I don't know how, since I thought we were being careful, but I guess we slipped up." Thea said.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Roy asked her.

"Because you needed to focus on helping both the ACU and Team Arrow on stopping Church and I knew that you wouldn't be able to if you were also focusing on me." Thea said.

"Okay well, I'll give you that." Roy admitted.

"Exactly, but now, I think there's another discussion we need to have now." Thea said.

"Do we want to have a kid?" Roy asked and Thea nodded.

"Honestly Thea, it's mostly your call, since you're the one who's going to be putting in the hard work." Roy said.

"Maybe so, but this would also affect you since you will be contributing to your kid's life. And we both know how Ollie will react when he finds out." Thea said.

"Yeah, if he doesn't kill me, he'll no doubt make me hang up my hood." Roy said.

"I sense there's a but coming." Thea said.

"Look Thea, you know enough about my parents to know that they were not good at raising me. But having a kid of my own, it would give me a chance to be the sort of parent that I wish I had. But like I said, it's ultimately your call." Roy said, but to his surprise, Thea smiled.

"I was hoping you'd say that. Like you, my parents weren't exactly model citizens, I mean my birth father destroyed the Glades, my mother backed him until maybe 5 minutes beforehand and my legal father was an unfaithful husband who also backed Merlyn and both of my parents were a bit too lenient, considering they let Ollie become a party boy college frat boy dropout he used to be and my mom let me get into drugs for 5 years. I sort of want a chance to know what a real parent feels like." Thea said.

"So I guess we're keeping the baby." Roy said.

"I guess we are. But now we have to worry about the next problem." Thea said.

"Yeah, telling Oliver. He's gonna kill me." Roy said.

"Maybe not. If worse comes to worse, I have something on him that should keep him in check." Thea said.

"Really, care to fill me in." Roy asked.

"Later." Thea promised him and Roy nodded, now dreading the conversation they had to have with Thea's overprotective big brother.

* * *

Oliver and John had just returned from following up a lead on Prometheus.

"Who knew Prometheus was a "Babylon 5" fan boy? Don't judge until you've seen it." Curtis said.

"So what begins? That's the question." John asked.

"That's a good point. It would seem like he has already started, considering he's dropped two bodies." Oliver said.

"I get killing Conahan. He led the ACU team to help the Green Arrow rescue the city councilmen, but why take out Church?" John asked.

"According to Detective Malone, it's because Church got in between Prometheus and his real target." Oliver said.

"The Green Arrow." Curtis said.

"Yes." Oliver said.

"So Church goes after you, Prometheus goes after Church, and-shunk!" Curtis said, gesturing a throwing star motion.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"That was my throwing star sound effect? Why? What does yours sound like?" Curtis said.

"I just don't understand. A person that leaves a trail of dead cops just to kill a guy who's after you because he wants to kill you himself." John said.

"Well, I'll say it again. This is serious enough to warrant telling the rest of the team." Curtis said.

"Laurel already knows and Roy is not answering his phone." Oliver said.

"You know what I mean." Curtis said.

"You mean 3 people we barely know, one of which gave up your identity to Church, who we can only pray didn't share that information with Prometheus." John said.

"Well, for the record, Rene didn't give up Oliver's identity, ok? He was tortured." Curtis reminded them.

"That's exactly why we have to keep them out of this. I don't want to put them in harm's way until we know exactly what it is we're dealing with." Oliver said and Curtis nodded defeated.

"Oliver, are you okay?" John asked.

"Yeah it's just, something about Prometheus's tactics, it seems sort of familiar but I can't place it." Oliver said.

"Well, let's hope we figure it out." John said.


	16. Chapter 16

Oliver was doing the salmon ladder in the bunker when he heard someone enter.

"Hey Oliver." Roy said as he and Thea entered the bunker.

"Hey, where've you been, I've been calling you all night." Oliver said.

"Yeah, sorry about that, but there's something both Thea and I need to tell you." Roy said.

"Let me guess, you're pregnant?" Oliver asked.

"How did you know?" Thea asked.

"I was just kidding, but you're actually pregnant." Oliver asked her.

"Yeah, I am." Thea said and as expected, Oliver punched Roy in the face.

"You son of a bitch." Oliver said as Laurel entered the bunker.

"I take it you finally told him?" Laurel asked.

"Wait, you knew?" Oliver asked.

"Yes, I'm the one who made Thea see a doctor and confirmed it and you of all people don't have the right to get mad at me over keeping secrets." Laurel reminded him.

"Besides, I made her swear to secrecy. I wanted to tell Roy first and I waited until after you took down Church, since you needed all the help you could get with him and I knew that if Roy knew he was going to be a father, he wouldn't be focused and you wouldn't let him out into the field." Thea said.

"You're right, I don't want him in the field because a dead man is no good to anyone." Oliver said.

"Ollie, do I have to remind you about William?" Thea asked and Oliver flinched at the reminder.

"Who's William?" Roy asked.

"Oliver's son from an affair he had about 10 years ago." Thea said.

"And I'm assuming that Laurel knows about that." Roy said, looking at Oliver's girlfriend.

"I know all about that." Laurel said, looking at Oliver.

"So I don't think that you of all people have the right to attack Roy, especially since he actually wants to be there for his kid." Thea said, regretting the words as soon as she said them.

Rather than responding, Oliver just walked away.

"That was uncalled for Thea." Laurel said.

"I know, it just slipped out. I know that Oliver wanted to be there for his son, but can't." Thea said.

"Thea, you struck a nerve and now you have to clean up the damage." Laurel said.

"I know and I'll see if I can." Thea said as she walked after her brother.

* * *

"Ollie." Thea said as she approached her brother.

"You crossed a line Thea." Oliver told her.

"I know, I was just fed with you and it slipped out." Thea said.

"Thea, I am happy for you, I really am, but you have to understand, no matter what happens, I will always be your big brother first and the fact that Roy got you pregnant doesn't exactly make him my favorite person right now." Oliver said and Thea smiled.

"I'm just glad it's you and not either of my dads." Thea said and Oliver chuckled.

"Dad would figuratively kill Roy and Merlyn would literally kill him." Oliver said.

"And I know that if you could, you'd spend more time with your son." Thea said.

"Yeah, but hey, the fact that I'm going to be an uncle will help make up for that and who knows, maybe Laurel and I will get there ourselves one day." Oliver said.

"I'm sure you will. And William's 18th birthday will be here before you know it." Thea said.

"Doesn't make it any easier." Oliver said.

"Well, you can spoil my kid as much as you want." Thea offered and Oliver chuckled.

"Gee thanks." Oliver said.

"So, we're good?" Thea asked.

"As long as you keep that promise, yeah." Oliver said with a smile as he wrapped his arm around Thea's shoulders and led them back to the others.

* * *

"Roy, we need to talk." Oliver said.

"Ok, what's going on." Roy asked, though he had an idea.

"I think you should consider hanging up your hood. Permanently." Oliver said.

"Wait, what?" Roy asked.

"Roy, you're going to be a father. I feel bad enough that you had to leave Thea before because you were trying to solve my problem and I'll be damned if I cause your kid to have to grow up without his or her father because I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry, but your days in a hood are over." Oliver said.

"Look, Oliver, I appreciate that, but with Prometheus out there, you need as much help as you can get. Besides, the baby isn't here yet. Once Thea's given birth, then I'll consider retiring, but until then, I'm staying on. End of discussion." Roy said firmly.

Oliver looked at him for a few minutes before chuckling.

"What's so funny?" Roy asked.

"You just remind me so much of me and that's exactly what I would've said." Oliver said.

"So, I'm not done here yet?" Roy asked.

"Yeah, Arsenal's glory days aren't done yet, but once the baby is born, I want you to at least consider retiring." Oliver said.

"Yeah, of course. But I could use your help with something else." Roy said.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"I need your blessing." Roy said.

"Roy, you want to marry Thea?" Oliver asked.

"She's the love of my life and she's the mother of my child. I want to spend the rest of my life with her as my wife." Roy said and Oliver smiled.

"Good answer. Of course I'll give you my blessing, if anything, there's no other guy I'd rather have become Thea's husband." Oliver said and Roy smiled at him gratefully.


	17. Chapter 17

"Well, if Prometheus wanted to push the public into a frenzy, mission accomplished." Oliver said after the team entered the bunker after dealing with a panic at an outdoor mall.

"Well, I'm guessing we're not gonna like his encore either." Curtis said, only to have Oliver look at him.

"Heh. I will stop helping." Curtis said.

"Ahem. We need to canvass the city. Curtis can coordinate. We need to help the SCPD maintain order." Oliver said.

"Hold up a sec." Rene said.

"More like back up, way up." Evelyn said.

"Yeah. Tonight's the first we're hearing of a serial killer operating in the city." Rory added.

"He calls himself Prometheus. He's the one who killed Tobias Church." Oliver finally told him.

"Did you know about this? He knew about this. Why didn't we know about this?" Rene asked John.

"You know about him now, so let's get to work." Oliver said angrily.

"These throwing star killings are some kind of message that Prometheus is sending to Oliver. He's calling him out. Sounds like-and I'm guessing- you and the other A team members have known about this a while." Rene said to John.

"Yeah. That's not insulting at all." Evelyn said.

"Evelyn, this isn't about feelings or ego. We had to vet the situation." John sahid.

"He means the "A" team had to make sure the "B" team was worthy enough for being kept in the loop." Rene said.

"All right. The only team here is team Arrow, and I actually agree with you guys, but the whole city is going nutso crazy right now, so." Curtis said.

"He's right. There's plenty of time for this later." Rory said, only to have Oliver glare at them all as he left.

* * *

Later that day, Oliver re entered the bunker, along with Roy and Laurel after getting a text from John that they had something.

"What do we have?" Oliver asked.

"You guys, uh, think you want to clear the room for us?" John asked.

"Seriously, bro?" Rene asked.

"Felicity and Curtis found something. We want to know what it is." Evelyn said.

"Yeah. We're a team, or at least we were." Rory agreed.

"Fine. What do we have?" Oliver asked, getting annoyed.

"At first, not much of anything. No links between home addresses, personal histories, favorite colors, Nada. So the victimology algorithm moved on to crazy Zodiac killer kind of stuff, like looking for anagrams in case Prometheus was sending a message in the names of the victims he's been choosing." Curtis said.

"Is he?" Oliver asked.

"Kind of. First 4 victims- Tobias Church, Sam Conahan, Peter Meld, and Gay Eked. Victims 3 and 4 were not random. We think Prometheus is using those names as anagrams to spell out other names." Curtis said.

"Okay, so what names is he spelling?" Rory asked.

"Adam Hunt, Ted Gaynor, Palmer Cokes, Sachi Beech." Curtis said and Oliver's blood ran cold, since he hadn't heard or even thought about those names in 4 years.

"Those names supposed to mean anything to us?" Rene asked.

"They do to him." Laurel said, as they all looked at Oliver.

"Care to enlighten?" Rene asked.

"Those names are on the list." Oliver said simply as he walked away.

"What the hell is the list?" Rene asked as Oliver came back with a book in his hands.

* * *

"Let me get this straight. You got a "To Kill" list, and I'm the out-of-control one?" Rene asked.

"I haven't used that list, I haven't looked at it in 4 years." Oliver said.

"Wait. 4 years? I thought there was you under the hood." Evelyn said to Roy.

"No. That was Oliver. The Hood, the Arrow, Green Arrow- all him." Roy said, looking at Oliver.

"That notebook belonged to my father, and when I was first starting out, I thought that it was my way to save the city." Oliver explained.

"Well, I think we now know the message Prometheus is trying to send." Rory said.

"What message might that be?" Oliver asked him.

"He's saying you're the serial killer." Rory said.

"Harsh, but feeling pretty accurate." Evelyn said.

"I was trying to help this city. Prometheus isn't. Before you say anything Evelyn, you all knew I was a killer when you came on board." Oliver reminded them.

"Not a serial killer. I know some of these names. You've got bankers in here, lawyers, a city councilman." Evelyn began, only to have Oliver cut her off.

"All of them deserved what they got." Laurel said.

"How can you, the daughter of a police captain, say that?" Rene asked.

"Because the Hood did more good for this city in a year then the entire SCPD, even my own dad would admit that. None of those people were good people. They were liars, thieves and killers, all of them." Laurel said.

"Why don't we give them some examples." Roy suggested.

"Ok, Ted Gaynor, guilty of murder, theft and kidnapping to start." John said.

"Martin Sommers, had ties to the Chinese Triad who almost got me killed." Laurel said.

"Edward Rasmus, he cheated people out of their entire life savings and even put a hit out on a family Laurel was representing, leading to a hitman murdering a kid's parents right in front of him and attempting to kill the kid to." Oliver said.

"Daniel Brickwell, I'm sure nearly all of you know that name. He took the Glades hostage, but even more importantly, he's the one who killed Malcolm Merlyn's and set the Undertaking in motion." Roy said.

"Isabel Rochev. Former VP of Stellmoor Industries and CEO of my family's company after she stole it from me, robbed our family of everything we had, not to mention, she was working with Slade Wilson, helping him with the Siege." Oliver said.

"Justin Claybourne, he created a TB epidemic in Lamb Valley and then ranked up the price to the cure his company produced." John said.

"Okay, you've made your point." Evelyn said.

"Good, now Curtis, you need to anagram the names on the list against Star City's population because that should point us toward Prometheus' next targets." Oliver said and Curtis nodded.


	18. Chapter 18

Laurel came down to the bunker later on that day to check on Oliver to find him shooting arrows at tennis balls that were being launched out of an automatic launcher.

"That's impressive." Laurel said.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Oliver asked.

"I don't think I've ever seen you do this. I've usually only seen you put arrows in people." Laurel said jokingly.

"Not the time Laurel." Oliver said.

"Okay, so, what's got you doing this." Laurel asked.

"Wanted to take my mind off things." Oliver said and he shot another arrow.

"Yeah. I don't think they make enough tennis balls for that." Laurel said with a smile.

"Where's Curtis with the list of potential targets?" Oliver asked her.

"He's working on it. It's a big city." Laurel reminded Oliver.

"Yeah." Oliver agreed.

"Something tells me that's not the only thing weighing on you. How are the recruits?" Laurel asked.

"Taking a little time out. I expected them to be upset with me, and that's fine, but, Laurel, they seemed horrified." Oliver said.

"No. I wouldn't call it that. Just a bit surprised. Look on the bright side. It does show how far you've come. I haven't seen that guy in a long time, and the way the kids reacted, I think it proves how much you've changed." Laurel said.

"Except I haven't. I killed Damien Darhk, and I haven't stopped since." Oliver said.

"Yeah. But forget why you killed Darhk." Laurel said.

"I killed him because he killed you. Because he took you away from me, at least, for a few minutes. It was kill made out of vengeance." Oliver said.

"No Oliver. You killed Damien Darhk, Oliver, because you had to. You took down Church's men because you had to. The list was something different. You were targeting lawyers, stockbrokers. You were killing as a first resort, not a last." Laurel told him.

"Well, Prometheus is just dredging all that up again. I want to move forward. I'm trying to move forward, but I I feel stuck." Oliver said.

"I think you're being hard on yourself, which is a bit annoying because that's usually mine and John's job, but, Oliver, in that official capacity I think you are moving forward. I think you're evolving. I think you're growing." Laurel said.

"What makes you so sure?" Oliver asked her.

"Because that guy with the list wouldn't have even thought to ask the question. Plus, I never would've fallen as in love with him as I am with you." Laurel said and Oliver smiled.

"How is it that no matter how dark the situation gets, you always manage to see the light?" Oliver asked her as he turned off the machine and pulled her into his arms.

"I guess you could say that's my other superpower." Laurel said with a smile as she kissed him.

"And maybe Black Canary is too dark a codename for you." Oliver said.

"What do you mean?" Laurel asked.

"I never really understood why you chose Black Canary as your codename. I mean, Canary, I get, since you were honoring Sara, but Black? Seems a little dark for someone who always tries to see the light." Oliver explained.

Laurel chuckled before saying "Maybe, but I like my codename. I like to think that if brings hope. Besides, my suit is black."

Oliver laughed before kissing her again before Curtis came on over the PA system.

"I got a list of potential victims." Curtis said.

* * *

Once the whole team was gathered in the bunker, Oliver decided to address the team.

"I know you're all upset with me, so thank you for showing up despite that." Oliver said.

"I was able to cross-reference the list with the city census, nailing it down to 7 potential targets." Curtis said

"How do we know who he'll hit?" Rene asked.

"We don't. In order to cover that much ground, we have to split up and each take one potential target. We run surveillance. Whoever spots Prometheus first, call it in, and we all converge." Oliver said.

"Cool." Rory said as they all headed out, but Oliver decided he need to have a chat with Evelyn.

"Is everything ok?" Oliver asked her.

"No, it's not. For a long time, I blamed you for my parents dying, that you were responsible for leaving them to suffocate in one of Damien Darhk's testing chambers." Evelyn said.

"I know." Oliver admitted.

"It took a lot for me to come work with you. Knowing all this It doesn't make it any easier." Evelyn admitted to him.

"Evelyn, are you sure you should be out there tonight?" Oliver asked her.

"Yes, I am because I'm doing this, protecting people for me, not for you." Evelyn said.

* * *

Green Arrow was watching one of suspected targets when he heard Mr. Terrific on the comms.

"Go." Green Arrow said.

"We got a problem. Artemis seems to have disconnected her comms." Mr. Terrific said.

"She in trouble?" Green Arrow asked.

"I don't know, but I'm worried she wouldn't tell us if she was." Mr. Terrific said.

"Do you have here 20?" Green Arrow asked.

"When Wild Dog was kidnapped, I put trackers in all their suits. I'm sending you the information now." Mr. Terrific said as Green Arrow received the information on the screen on his suit.

"She's moving. She's on a subway that's moving." Green Arrow said.

"The train's a few blocks from here." Mr. Terrific said.

"You tell everyone else to hold their position." Green Arrow said as he backed off.

* * *

Artemis was currently getting her ass kicked by Prometheus when suddenly, Green Arrow appeared on the train and engaged Prometheus, who quickly utilized a smoke bomb to escape.

"You okay?" Green Arrow asked Artemis.

"A little banged up, but I'll live. I wasn't gonna be. Prometheus?" Artemis asked.

"Gone. Whatever he's planning, it wasn't to engage me tonight." Green Arrow said.

"Hey. We got a problem. We got a big problem." the man said as he revealed a big bomb.

"We don't have time to disarm that. We're getting off the train." Green Arrow said.

"Come on! You're joking, right? Because now's a really bad time to be trying out jokes. Trust me." Artemis asked, right before Green Arrow used a harness and a parachute arrow to escape, right before the train exploded.

* * *

Back in the bunker, Oliver was patching Evelyn up.

"Good as new." Oliver said as he finished patching her up.

"What's gonna happen to the train guy?" Evelyn asked.

"This morning, Mayor Queen is gonna put him and Prometheus' 6 other targets into witness protection until this is over." Oliver said.

"Won't Prometheus just find another way to go after you?" Evelyn asked.

"Probably, but when he does, we will deal with it, and I promise you will find out right when I do." Oliver assured her.

"I was a jerk And I'm sorry." Evelyn said.

"Hey, you had every right to be a bit of a jerk. And for the record, I'm the one who owes you an apology. Evelyn I'm sorry. I'm sorry for your parents. I'm sorry that I'm not the man you thought I was, but John reminded me, as he does, that I'm trying to be that man And I might actually be getting there slowly. In the meantime, I would really appreciate your patience." Oliver said.

"Sounds reasonable to me." Evelyn said and Oliver held out his hand to Evelyn, but his surprise, she actually hugged him.

"What was that for?" Oliver asked.

"That was a thank you. For being there for me, even when I didn't want you to be. You acted just like my dad would've in this position." Evelyn explained.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Oliver said.

"What's wrong?" Evelyn asked.

"Something about Prometheus, it just felt familiar to me for some reason." Oliver said.


	19. Chapter 19

**I want to thank NASCAR1402, since they're the one who inspired me with an idea for this chapter. Hope you like it.**

* * *

Green Arrow, Arsenal and Spartan were about to be shot by a new player in town they'd been tracking who called himself Vigilante when suddenly there was a flash of lightning and three of them found themselves back at Oliver's loft

"What the hell was that?" Roy asked as the bolt of lightning was revealed to be the Flash as John pulled off his helmet and went to puke on the terrace.

"Sorry Dig." Barry apologized.

"It's fine." Dig said as he puked.

"So, who was that guy?" Barry asked.

"That was Vigilante, and we nearly had him." Oliver said.

"You nearly had him, Ollie? It looked like he was about to "Scarface" you guys." Barry said.

"Barry, is there something that I can do for you? Another evil speedster to help you with or?" Oliver asked him, annoyed.

"Maybe, actually. That's not why I'm here, though." Barry said as Laurel entered the apartment and they all noticed Barry take a small breath of surprise at the sight of her for some reason.

"What's so urgent that you had to rush to Star City?" Laurel asked.

"Aliens." Barry said simply.

"Aliens?" Oliver asked in disbelief.

"Aliens." Barry confirmed.

"I swear to God, Barry. My life was somewhat normal before I met you." John said.

"I mean, I'm sorry. Look, okay, they're real, and they're already here, and, from what Lyla told us, it does not appear to be for peace." Barry said, much to their displeasure as Thea entered the apartment as well.

"Lyla knows about this?" John asked.

"Yeah, Lyla knows." Barry said as John walked away on the phone before Oliver turned his attention to Thea.

"I came to have you sign this before City Council went in to mutiny, but that can totally wait. Count me in." Thea said, just to have Oliver and Roy look at her like she was crazy.

"You're kidding right?" Roy asked his girlfriend.

"Look, I know I retired, but this is an alien invasion we're talking about." Thea said.

"And in midst of that, you've forgotten that you're pregnant and you're not going anywhere near this." Oliver said.

"Seriously Ollie?" Thea asked.

"Sorry Thea, but he's right. Fighting aliens is the last thing you should be doing in your condition." Laurel said and Thea could tell that she was outvoted.

"Ok then, well, how do you expect to fight aliens if it's only going to be the 5 of you?" Thea asked.

"It won't just be 5 of us if we can get Stein and the others." Barry said.

"They're calling themselves the Legends." Oliver said.

"Egotistical but catchy." Thea said.

"Do you know where they are?" Barry asked.

"I know where they were." Oliver said.

* * *

"What is this place?" Roy asked as he, Barry, John and Cisco walked outside of an old hangar.

It's this old hall hangar thing that S.T.A.R. Labs owns. Or I guess I own it." Barry said.

"Well, you should do something with it." Roy said.

"All right, so let me get this right. Our time-traveling buddies in a flying timeship are supposed to just pop up right here, right?" John asked.

"Yeah. This is the time and place I gave them, so if they got my message, they should be here," Cisco said, right as a timeship appeared out of nowhere, "Right now."

"You know why I've never done drugs? It's 'cause I was always afraid I'd see weird stuff." John said and none of them could resist chuckling at his reaction.

"Okay, take everybody inside, all right? - Tell Oliver I'll be right back." Barry said.

"Where are you going?" Roy asked.

"Well, since we're fighting aliens, I figured we should get one of our own, right?" Barry said.

"Wait, you know where to find an alien?" John asked.

"It's a long story. You found the right Earth?" Barry asked Cisco.

"Tachyon device tracked you on Earth-38 when you met her, so you should find her there." Cisco confirmed.

"All right." Barry said.

"Just so you know, I'm only doing this because we're on a mission. I'm not gonna let my issues with you get in the way of that." Cisco said and Barry nodded as Cisco opened a breach and they went through it.

* * *

Oliver and Laurel were speaking with Caitlin and Iris when they heard Sara.

"Laurel?" Sara asked.

"Sara, hey." Laurel said, hugging her sister.

"Hey." Sara said, stunned as they separated.

"Is everything ok?" Laurel asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine, I just really missed you." Sara said as she hugged Laurel again.

"I missed you to." Laurel said as she felt how tightly Sara was hugging her.

"Got room for one more?" another familiar voice asked.

Oliver turned to see Felicity standing the in doorway.

"Felicity, it's good to see you, but what are you doing here?" Oliver asked as he hugged his ex.

"Well, we heard that aliens were invading, so we thought we'd come lend a hand." Felicity said.

"We?" Laurel asked.

"You guys hear about that guy in green flying around Coast City?" Felicity asked as a guy where a glowing green suit and green mask dropped out of the sky.

"He's my boyfriend." Felicity said as the guy's suit disappeared.

"Hi, I'm Hal Jordan, aka, the Green Lantern." Hal said, holding out his hand to Oliver, who shook it.

"Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow." Oliver said.

"Felicity, what is it with you and guys who look great in green?" Laurel asked her with a smile.

"What can I say, I have a type." Felicity said with a smile as suddenly a breach opened up in the middle of the room and Cisco, Barry and a young woman who was wearing a blue shirt with red stitching and a red skirt with a gold strap, along with red Dr. Martens and socks, along with a red cape and an S on her chest, exited it.

"That was so cool." The woman said.

"Barry, I thought you were bringing an alien." Oliver asked.

"I did. Guys this is my friend Kara Danvers, or as she's known on her earth, Supergirl." Barry said.

"What makes her so super?" Jax asked.

"Well." Barry said as he looked at Kara who nodded and then levitated off the ground and shot lasers out of her eyes, burning the same symbol that was on her chest into the floor.

"I'm convinced." John said.

"Best team up, ever." Felicity said.


	20. Chapter 20

**I'm going to be reintroducing an old character from one of my previous stories.**

* * *

After Kara was introduced to everyone else and they were brought up to speed on the Dominators and Barry was selected as the team leader and now they had decided to use Kara as a training standin.

Oliver and Barry were heading to prepare for training before Jax and Professor Stein approached them.

"Barry. Before we start training, there's something you need to hear." Jax said.

"A message that would be better if we could share with you in private." Stein said, looking at Oliver, who nodded, getting the message.

"All right, I'll step away." Oliver said.

"No, no, it's fine. You can stay." Barry said to Oliver, who looked at Jax and Stein who nodded.

"All right, but no one else." Jax said.

"All right. Let's make it quick." Oliver said as they stepped into an on site RV.

* * *

"A war is coming, Captain Hunter, and at some point you're gonna be called back to Central City to fight it. So you need to know that, while you and your team have been in the temporal zone, I made a choice that affected the timeline. As you know, whenever you alter the past, those changes affect the present and get compounded in the future. When you return, you will be in the new timeline I created, where everyone's past and everyone's future has been affected, including yours. When you come back, don't trust anything or anyone. Not even me." they listened to message from Jax's MP3 player.

"Where did you get that from?" Barry asked.

"We found it in a secret room inside the Waverider. It was sent by you, 40 years from now." Jax answered.

"40 years from now? Barry, what the hell does this mean?" Oliver asked.

"It means I screwed things up when I changed the past." Barry said, much to their surprise.

"What did you do?" Stein asked.

"I went back in time, and I saved my mom. I created a timeline where she's alive. It's called Flashpoint. I lived in it for a few months, until I realized that I made a big mistake, and I tried to reset the timeline, put things back to how they were supposed to be, but ." Barry said.

"But it didn't work." Jax finished.

"No." Barry said, looking full of self regret.

"Wow. Barry, that's." Oliver said.

"So what's changed since you did this?" Stein asked.

"Cisco's brother is dead. Caitlin, Iris and Laurel all have powers. Laurel's alive. Diggle has a son now instead of a daughter." Barry said.

"What do you mean that Laurel is alive and that John had a daughter?" Oliver asked, both concerned and angry for his friends.

"I didn't just screw up my life, man. I screwed up everybody's lives and, apparently, everybody's lives in the future. It felt like, when these aliens got here, that finally something had happened I didn't cause, and maybe I could make up for everything I'd done to everybody, but I." Barry said.

"Barry, first of all, if Laurel being alive right now is because of you, then that means that Sara owes you big time, since she's spent the past 8 months trying to kill Laurel's killer in the past." Jax said.

"Really, well, that's interesting." Barry said.

"Second of all, I think we should be on the up and up with everybody. We got to tell 'em." Jax said.

"We're going up against a bunch of aliens, and you want to tell people that their lives might have been affected by time travel? One sci-fi problem at a time." Oliver said and they all agreed that this was the best course of action.

"You made a mistake, Barry. It's part of the job. But we can't deal with it today." Oliver said as he patted Oliver on the shoulder.

* * *

Cisco had just revealed future Barry's message to the rest of the team, much to Oliver's annoyance.

"Come on, look." Barry said.

"You told 'em, right?" Cisco asked.

"I'm gonna tell them, yeah, when this is finished." Barry told him.

"When this is finished? Even though you're about to lead them through an alien war? Even after Flashpoint? After everything you've messed up? All the lives you've changed? You still don't think you should tell them?" Cisco demanded as the rest of the team looked him.

"Jax and Professor Stein found a message from me in the future saying that, right now, I can't be trusted." Barry said.

"And why would future you say that?" Ray asked.

"I think because I went back in time and changed the timeline, and now things here are different than before I left, including some of your lives." Barry finally admitted.

"Some of our lives? Like who?" Sara asked.

"Cisco. Caitlin. Wally. Laurel. Dig." Barry said.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Laurel asked.

"In the original timeline, you weren't in Central City when the particle accelerator exploded, which means." Barry said.

"That I never got meta powers which means that I couldn't heal after Darhk stabbed me." Laurel said.

"You died in the original timeline and everyone's reactions to it, they weren't pretty." Barry said and now Sara was looking at Barry with newfound respect.

"You mean the only reason my sister is alive right now is because you changed the timeline?" Sara asked.

"Yeah." Barry said and walked towards him and Barry prepared himself for a slap, but to his surprise he got a very rare Sara Lance hug.

"Thank you." Sara said.

"What about me? Why? What happened?" John asked.

"Hey. Apparently, you had a daughter." Oliver said.

"I had a daughter, Barry?" John asked.

"Baby John was Baby Sara." Barry said.

"So, wait, you let me get this straight. You just, uh You just erased a daughter from my life?" John asked.

"Yeah." Barry said, full of self-loathing.

"And all those aberrations we spent the last eight months traveling through time trying to correct you just decided that it was okay for you to create your own?" Ray said.

"We should've told 'em before." Barry said as Felicity walked in.

-"Guys? Guys, I just got off the phone with Lyla. The President's been abducted by the Dominators. She needs us now." Felicity said.

"Okay, you guys go. All right? I'm gonna sit this one out. Obviously, you have Supergirl. She's just as fast as I am. Get the President. We can talk about this later." Barry said before looking at Kara.

"You still trust me, right?" he asked.

"I'll always trust you, but it might take more to convince them." Kara said.

"If you need me, I'll be there." Barry said.

"Guys, this is cr hey! This is crazy! Everyone is going, including Barry," Oliver said, "I I'm not going without him."

"Then you'll be here, Oliver." John said and Oliver looked at him like he was insane.

"Okay. You know what? Oliver, it's okay. I will go with them. We'll get the President. You stay here with Barry." Kara said and Oliver nodded as they all left.


	21. Chapter 21

Cisco was currently working on something on one of the computers when Oliver approached him.

"Hey Oliver, what's up?" Cisco asked.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Oliver demanded.

"What?" Cisco asked.

"Why did you tell everyone about Flashpoint?" Oliver asked.

"They had a right to know." Cisco defended.

"Yeah, they did, but not the way that you told them. Did you even stop to think about how telling them might impact the trust of the team?" Oliver asked.

"How can you expect the team trust each other if they keep secrets from each other?" Cisco countered.

"Don't give me any of that crap. You didn't do it because you cared about trust, you did it because you were angry at Barry and in the process, you may have destroyed any chance we had of beating the Dominators, because the trust between everyone has been broken. So if the world ends, remember it's because you couldn't keep your mouth shut that we couldn't all work together as a team." Oliver said, rendering Cisco speechless.

"I get that you have an axe to grind with Barry, I've been there with so many other people I've trusted, but you deal with that on your own time. Not when the fate of the world depends on us being able to work in unison." Oliver said, right as they heard an explosion.

"What was that?" Cisco asked as Barry sped up to them.

"My guess would be alien mind control. Oliver we need to get out there now." Barry said.

"What about me?" Cisco asked.

"Sorry, but I can't trust you to keep your emotions in check anymore, so you're benched. And not just from the action, I mean even acting as tech support." Barry said as he and Oliver headed out.

* * *

"Are you sure that benching Cisco was the right play?" Oliver asked as they headed outside.

"You said it yourself, without trust, this team can't operate and I don't trust him to have our backs anymore." Barry said and Oliver nodded in understanding as Barry put on his mask and Oliver did the same for his and also pulled up his hood.

"Oh, things just got so much worse." Green Arrow said as they saw Spartan, Black Canary, Arsenal, Avalanche (merged super form of Iris and Caitlin that was basically an ice version of Firestorm), Atom, White Canary, Heat wave, Firestorm, Supergirl and Green Lantern.

"Guys. Can we talk about this?" Flash asked.

"Guess not." Green Arrow said just to have Arsenal fire an arrow at them.

"What's wrong with them?" Green Arrow asked.

"I don't know, but we need to find out." Flash said as they ducked for cover.

* * *

"Oh, wow! You really did it this time, Barry." Green Arrow said as they ducked for cover behind a concrete wall.

"Seriously?" Flash asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Yeah, seriously! You come to Star City, you ask for my help, and then, inevitably, immediately, we end up up the creek!" Green Arrow said.

"Yeah, okay. That's fair." Flash admitted.

"They're moving in." he then said.

"On three, Team Leader." Green Arrow said as blue laser beams cut through the wall they were taking cover behind.

What's that?" Green Arrow asked

"That would be heat vision." Flash said.

"Three." Green Arrow said as they charged out just to see their friends attack them.

* * *

"Felicity, what's the ETA on overriding that Alien mind control?" Flash asked.

"There's a weird signal coming from the salt mines." Felicity said over the comms.

"Can you jam it?" Green Arrow asked.

"Uh, no." Felicity said.

"How many of those do you have left?" Flash asked him.

"Probably not enough." Green Arrow admitted as he fired another explosive arrow.

"Okay, this hallway leads to a bunker under the building. Just hold 'em off as long as you can." Flash said.

"Where are you going?" Green Arrow asked.

"If they can't shut it down, maybe she can," Flash said, gesturing to Supergirl causing Green Arrow to nod, "Hey, Supergirl! Let's finally see who's faster."

* * *

Green Arrow was sure he was finished as he watched his friends and girlfriend prepare to kill him when suddenly they collapsed.

"Guys, they're back." Green Arrow said.

"What happened?" White Canary asked.

"You didn't kill me, so my day's looking up." Green Arrow said.

* * *

"So, what was it like being all mind-controlled and stuff?" Flash asked the rest of the team after they'd gathered at Star Labs.

"I didn't realize he had a mind to be controlled." Firestorm said about Mick, causing everyone to chuckle.

"Barry, about before. Message or no message, we're with you." Atom said.

"Thank you." Flash said with a grin.

"Where's Supergirl?" Arsenal asked.

"Scanning the city to make sure there aren't any more of the orbs that whammied all of you." Flash responded.

"Okay, so now what?" Spartan asked.

"We call Lyla. Tell her these Dominators aren't here peacefully." Green Arrow said and everyone nodded as they headed inside, right before a beam of light came down on Sara and pulled her up.

"Sara!" Black Canary shouted as another ray came down and took Spartan and Arsenal.

"Everybody inside! Go!" Flash shouted as Atom was collected as well.

Nearly everyone had made it inside when suddenly, another beam of light came down on Green Arrow and Flash tried to get to him in time, but to no effect as Green Arrow was pulled up to, right in front of him.

"Oliver!" Flash shouted as he looked to the skies.


	22. Chapter 22

**In order to have it better fit in with the current universe of my story, I've changed the hallucination up a bit.**

* * *

Oliver had just finished his morning jog as he approached the Queen family mansion.

"So, how was your run?" Laurel asked as Oliver got out of the shower and grabbed a towel for himself and for her.

"You know how it was I told you about in the shower. Here you go." Oliver said as he handed the towel to Laurel.

"How could I forget?" Laurel asked with a smile as she put the towel on and exited the shower before kissing him.

"Dinah Laurel Lance Will you marry me?" Oliver asked her.

"I think I already answered that question." Laurel said as she held up her hand to show her engagement ring.

"Right." Oliver said with a smile.

"Ok. Time to get ready. My sister will be here soon." Laurel said as they headed out.

* * *

Oliver and Thea were sitting in the living room of the mansion and Oliver could tell that Thea was trying to butter him up for something when she gave him a present.

"What's this? The wedding isn't for a few more days." Oliver asked his sister.

"I know, it's just a pre rehearsal dinner gift." Thea said as Oliver opened the gift.

"Well, little is right." Oliver said as he pulled a rock out of the box.

"It's called a Hozen. It symbolizes reconnecting, like you did with Laurel." Thea said with a smile.

"Thea, it's a rock." Oliver insisted.

"It's a very thoughtful gesture from your amazingly loving sister. Who by the way is just glad that you and Laurel are finally getting married, I never thought that I'd be the one who married first." Thea said and Oliver smiled.

"Where is your husband?" Oliver asked.

"Right here." Roy said as he entered the room.

"Nice to see that you can be on time for once." Oliver said to his brother-in-law, just to have Thea smack him.

"Like you're one to talk considering you're 10 years late in marrying Laurel while Roy and I are already starting a family." Thea said as Robert and Moira Queen entered the room.

"Well, what's going on here?" Robert asked.

"Thea gave me a rock." Oliver said, causing both Robert and Moira to smile.

"Oh." Moira said.

"Ha ha ha!" Thea said sarcastically.

"Looks like I got here right on time." Tommy said as he walked into the mansion.

"Tommy, I'm glad you could make it." Oliver said as he got up and hugged his best friend.

"What, you didn't really think I'd miss my 2 best friends getting married did you?" Tommy asked.

"You know, I once thought that you'd be the one to marry Laurel." Oliver said.

"I wish, but she chose you in a heartbeat." Tommy said and suddenly Oliver had a strange moment where he saw Tommy under a building with a wooden board through this chest.

"Earth to Ollie. You okay?" Tommy asked as he waved his hand in front of Oliver's face, snapping him out of it.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, must be rehearsal day jitters is all." Oliver said.

"Let's go, champ. You got a 6:00 appointment at the tailor's, got to fight traffic." Robert said.

"Oh, dad, you know I'm not much of a fighter." Oliver said.

"Tell that to the paparazzi you punched." Thea reminded him.

"10 years ago." Oliver protested.

"Still." Thea said.

"Might as well be a lifetime. You're practically a completely different person. You both are." Moira said proudly.

"Don't start crying again, mama. Just save all the tears for the actual wedding." Thea said.

"Remember how much she cried at your wedding?" Oliver asked her.

Thea chuckled before saying "I thought she was going to ruin her dress from her tears."

"I think what your mother's trying to say is that both of us feel blessed to have watched the two of you grow up. I mean, Oliver, you're now the successful mayor of Starling City and you're finally marrying Laurel, who is the beautiful District Attorney of the city and Thea, the owner and manager of Starling City's most popular nightclub Verdant and is actually preparing to start a family of her own." Robert said with a smile as a maid knocked over a vase by accident, but Oliver somehow caught it instinctively.

"Whoa! Sweet reflexes." Thea said to her brother, who just nodded.

* * *

After Oliver watched a guy in a green hood save him and his father from a mugger, he began to have flashes of a different life. They felt so real, though he was certain they'd never happened, or maybe they had, he wasn't sure what was or wasn't real anymore, especially after he tracked the vigilante down and revealed him to be none other than John Diggle.

Oliver was now back at the mansion for the rehearsal dinner, but more and more of these strange flashes kept appearing and then Diggle showed up at his house.

"You got a minute to talk?" John asked.

"I'll be right back," Oliver said to Thea, who nodded, "Now what happened to I should just go back to my life?" he asked Diggle.

"Look. Have you been getting out into the city lately, seeing maybe a particular building that shouldn't be there?" John asked and Oliver nodded.

"Smoak Technologies." Oliver said.

"Yeah." John agreed.

"Yeah, when I was with my dad, I-I saw it, and it felt, uh- - It felt wrong." Oliver said.

"Right. Felicity Smoak says she never owned a building or a company. I don't know what's going on here, but when you left, I started having these, uh." John said, not sure how to describe them.

"Visions, right?" Oliver asked and John nodded.

"Like, um- uh, memory flashes." John said

"I'm getting them, too. John, what is happening to us?" Oliver asked.

"I have no idea. I've seen some weird things in the Stan, even stranger things as the Hood, but this- Look. When you left, I tried to draw one of these, uh, memory flashes, as you call them. Never been much of an artist, but this is what I came up with." John said as he showed Oliver a sketch of the Hood.

"What hell?" John asked.

"I don't know. Been remembering things. It's like they're dreams but they're not, John. I don't think that any of this is real. We're real, but whatever's playing these head games with us, I don't think it's fully working." Oliver said.

"Are you sure?" John asked.

"Because the Queen's Gambit- they've put me into a world where I never got on my father's boat." Oliver finally realized.

"Oliver, I don't know if these are memories or feelings, but I think you're a hero, and I don't think it's because of any boat." John said

"These head games aren't over. They are gonna push back against whatever we do." Oliver said.

"Push back? Like how?" John asked, right as a man in combat gear and a mask that was especially familiar to Oliver attacked them, only for him to be skewered by a sword.

"Like that." Oliver said as he and John looked at Sara Lance, who was currently the holding the sword.

"How did I do that?" Sara asked.


	23. Chapter 23

"Alright. This is hard to explain." Oliver said to Sara after she'd changed out of her dress.

"Well, start trying." Sara said.

"We think-we think we're in some sort of shared hallucination." Oliver said.

"What? That's crazy. I mean, not as crazy as me knowing Kung Fu, but it is definitely up there." Sara said.

"That wasn't Kung Fu. That was Jete Kune Do, and I think that you learned it in a spot called Nanda Parbat." Oliver said.

"Nothing you are saying is making sense. None of this makes sense." Sara denied.

"All right, Sara. What is the last thing you remember?" Oliver asked.

"I don't know." Sara said.

"I mean, before you came here yesterday. What is the last thing that you remember? You remembered something. Come on. Sara, come on, concentrate, Concentrate." Oliver told her and suddenly he could tell by the look on Sara's face that she believed him.

"There was a fight. It was 5 of us, and then- and then we were taken." Sara said.

"Taken where?" John asked.

"I don't know." Sara said.

"Well, all right. There were 5 of us. Who were the other two?" Oliver asked.

"Ray Palmer and-and Roy." Sara said.

"I mean, if this is some kind of dream or shared hallucination, then how do we wake up?" John asked.

"By getting out of here. The Smoak Technologies building. Maybe the reason why that place seems so strange is because that's the way we get out of here Wherever here is." Oliver theorized.

* * *

After convincing Ray and Roy about that they were in some kind of hallucination, the 5 of them all met outside the mansion.

"Have you explained to Ray what we have to do?" Oliver asked Sara, who nodded.

"Yeah. Apparently, we have to get to an office tower that my non-fiance doesn't own, which is a little strange. All that coming from a guy who's been having memories that he's able to shrink and travels through time." Ray said.

"Well, whatever we're doing, we have to do it fast because whatever the Dominators have done to us, they would have built in safeguards. They're probably manifestations from our memories designed to keep us here." Oliver said and no sooner had he said it then five figures appeared.

Deathstroke, Damien Darhk, Malcolm Merlyn dressed as the Dark Archer, a Ghost and one of Slade's soldier.

"One for each of us. The person we despise the most." Oliver said as he immediately moved to confront Slade.

"I've been looking forward to this kid." Slade said as he and Oliver once again resumed their dance.

"This won't satisfy nearly as much as killing your sister." Darhk said to Sara, who, despite knowing that Laurel was alive and well back in the real world, that didn't stop her from wanting to kill Darhk.

John engaged the Ghost, Roy took on Malcolm and Ray one of Slade's soldiers.

Most of them were able to put down their enemies rather easily, though John got a little banged up during the fight, but Oliver and Slade will still embroiled in their fight.

"This time I'm gonna take more than just your eye." Oliver said as Roy tossed him Malcolm's bow and an arrow, which Oliver then used to shoot Slade's other eye.

"We need to move now." Sara said as they all moved out, but Oliver took one last moment to look at Deathstroke's dead body before saying "I'm sorry." And then he followed the others.

* * *

After they arrived at Smoak Technologies, the five of them began to look around.

"So what now?" Roy asked.

"Guys, I don't think that belongs there." Oliver said, pointing out a swirling green vortex.

"Ok. That's either the way out of here, or we got to click our heels together 3 times and say, "There's no place like home." Ray said.

"And if that doesn't work?" Sara asked.

"It has to work. He's running out of time." Roy said, referring to John.

"Come on." Ray said as he, Sara, Roy and John all went through the portal and Oliver was about to follow when he heard voices from behind him and turned to see holograms of some of the people he'd lost. Tommy, his mother, his father, Shado and Akio.

"You're never without me, my beautiful boy. There's nothing else to say except I could not be more proud of you." his mother's voice said.

"You honor the dead by fighting, and you are not done fighting!" he heard Felicity said.

"I know I called you a murderer, but you are not. You are a hero." Oliver heard Tommy say.

"I know who you are in your bones, Oliver, and that person doesn't give up!" Laurel's voice told him.

"This is your responsibility now." Oliver heard his dad say and after that, Oliver finally managed to make himself leave this world.

* * *

After escaping from the Dominator mothership via a dropship, Oliver and the others still thought they were done for when suddenly the Waverider appeared out of nowhere, pulled their ship aboard with it's tractor beam and suddenly the jumped out.

After they got out of the ship, they found Nate Heywood waiting for them outside the cargo hold.

"Oliver Nice clothes. Shopping at Alien Gap?" Nate joked as they left the cargo bay.

"Not funny." Oliver said.

"Well, lucky for you guys, the Waverider has a machine that replicates old clothes and weapons. Hi. I'm Nate Heywood." Nate said, mostly for Roy and John's benefit.

"Hi. Roy, and-and this is exactly twice as many spaceships as I ever thought I'd be on." Roy said.

"Well, actually, it's a time ship." Sara corrected.

"How'd you find us?" Oliver asked.

"I didn't. Your nerd army back on Earth did." Nate explained.

"I'm gonna take Dig to the med bay, have Gideon fix him up." Sara said.

"Whoever Gideon is." John said.

"Oh get out!" Roy said as they reached the bridge.

"Thanks for the save." Oliver said to Nate.

"No problem." Nate said.

"Except for all of our other problems." Ray said.

"Like what, Ray?" Oliver asked.

"After we woke up, I got a look at the tech the Dominators were using to keep us under. They're using a neuromorphic interface similar to how I manipulate the atom suit." Ray said.

"And-and wait. What does that mean?" Roy asked.

"I-I think the shared hallucination was to keep our minds occupied while the Dominators" Ray said.

"While the Dominators what?" Oliver asked.

"Well, while they probed our subconscious. I'm guessing looking for Intel. Wait. Maybe they didn't choose us at random. Maybe they chose us because we couldn't fight back." Ray said.

"Because none of you are metahumans." Nate realized and Ray nodded.

"Bigger question- what Intel were they after? What is their plan?" Oliver said.

"Klic-clac-to Nick-lava shack-too." Gesundheit. It's what one of the Dominators said to another. Heh. Sounds like the beginning of a not-so-funny joke, but, Gideon." Ray asked.

"Translating." a woman's voice said.

"Did you ever think that our lives would really get this weird?" Roy asked Oliver who just smiled.

"The phrase loosely translates to "We are nearing completion of the weapon."" Gideon said.

"What weapon?" Nate asked.

"I'm afraid I have no idea, but I'm tracking the Dominator mothership you escaped from, and it appears to be on a direct course for Earth." Gideon said, much to everyone's 'delight'.


	24. Chapter 24

"I can't believe that you guys escaped an alien spaceship. Keywords: alien spaceship. I have questions." Cisco said

"They can wait. What's our status?" Oliver asked Barry as he, Roy, John, Sara, Ray and Nate all entered the hangar.

"Nothing, since the Dominators paid their little visit - to mess with our heads." Barry said.

"Why would they do that?" Nate asked.

"What if they were trying to pit us against each other, in order to gain intel about metahumans?" Nate said.

"Man, I wish they would just send us an IM with a questionnaire." Felicity said.

"Well, metas pose the biggest threat to their invasion. It would make sense they'd want to get to know their enemies." Kara said.

"By kidnapping people. Perhaps they were searching your minds for potential meta-human vulnerabilities." Stein said, picking up on Kara's train of thought.

"I think it's time we return the favor." Oliver said.

"What do you want to do? Kidnap one of them now?" John asked.

"Ever since we fought off that one ship, they've kind of been in short supply." Barry said.

"Actually, I know where to find one," Nate said, causing everyone to look at him as he pulled up old army footage revealing the Dominators, "I've been reviewing old Army footage of their first encounters with the Dominators, and I think I pegged the fight to Redmond, Oregon. 1951."

"You're suggesting we travel to 1951, abduct a Dominator, and interrogate it to determine their intentions." Stein said.

"They kidnapped us. Seems fair." Sara said simply.

"Whoa. Time travel. I'm definitely in." Cisco said.

"Okay, hold on, though. Professor Stein and Caitlin have been talking about a way to take down the Dominators. They could probably use your help." Barry protested.

"Pass." Cisco said, condescension in his voice.

"Yeah, I mean, I'm with him, mostly 'because I just don't want to lose my geek cred, but time travel!" Felicity said.

"I could take Amaya and Mick." Nate said.

"Do it." Oliver said and they nodded before heading out.

"And, uh, the new president called, which would be cool under different circumstances, but she wants to meet with us." Barry said and Oliver nodded.

"Let's bring Laurel, Ray and Sara as backup." Oliver said.

"What about me? I can do backup." Kara said.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Oliver asked Kara.

"I don't know." Barry said when Kara looked at her questioningly.

"I would like to minimize your involvement in this." Oliver said as she joined him.

"Why? Because I'm an alien? I also happen to be your biggest weapon." Kara pointed out.

"You are an unknown quantity, and this is not personal." Oliver said.

"Except that's exactly how this feels." Kara said.

"Kara, when I started living this life, it was just me. I was going up against human threats That I could handle. Then it was metahumans, and I can handle that. Now I learn that there are multiple Earths, and I was brainwashed aboard an alien spacecraft I am sure that was unnerving, but I don't I don't get unnerved. But when I go up against something new, I push back. Right or wrong, it is who I am, and it is what I do, so I'm asking for a little bit of space because I have to draw the line somewhere. I need to claw back a sense of normalcy. Please stay here." Oliver said and he could tell that Kara was resisting the urge to punch him with her super strength.

"Fine, but don't expect me to come to your rescue if things go south and remember if any of you get killed, you're the one who told me to stay away." Kara said angrily as she walked away, causing Barry to look at Oliver with a _what did you do?_ Look on his face.

* * *

Green Arrow, Flash, White Canary, Black Canary and Atom were standing in a parking lot, waiting for the president to arrive.

"So where's the president?" Ray asked.

"She's late." Sara said.

"Well, you got to figure she's got a lot on her plate, what with the whole alien invasion thing." Ray pointed out.

"And her predecessor getting killed." Sara also acknowledged.

"Hey, what'd you say to Kara earlier? She seemed pretty angry. I didn't know she was capable of being angry." Flash asked Green Arrow.

"We've got movement." Green Arrow said as cars surrounded them and an old man got out of one of them.

"I'm sorry. President couldn't make it." the man said.

"Who are you?" Atom asked.

"If I tell you I'll have to kill you." the man said as all his agents aimed at them.

"Uh, I think we have a misunderstanding. See, we're the good guys. The president invited us here.  
Atom said.

"Barry, I think it's time we do something. And fast." Green Arrow mumbled to Flash who nodded and quickly disarmed all of the agents and knocked them back.

Suddenly a bullet hit the Atom's suit from a distance.

"Sniper." Green Arrow said.

"I'm on it." Flash said as he sped off and the rest of them took down the remainder of agents and Flash confronted the man in charge.

"We're trying to help you. This is how you thank us?" Flash asked him.

"You don't understand. The reason the xenomorphs are here." the man said.

"Because they have a beef with the meta-humans. Tell us something we don't know." White Canary said.

"Like what exactly have we done to them?" Flash asked.

"Nothing. Yet. But they see individuals with powers such as yours as a future threat, and, frankly, so do I." Agent Smith said.

"Bad time to leave Supergirl at the base." Black Canary muttered.

"If you're such BFFs with the Dominators." White Canary said.

"Then why don't you call them off?" Green Arrow asked.

"We know you sent them packing once before, back in 1951." Atom said.

"That was just a reconnaissance mission." Smith said.

"What brought them back?" Flash asked.

"You did, Mr. Allen." Smith said, taking them all back that he knew the Flash's identity.

"He knows who you are." Atom said.

"You threatened the entire universe when you used your powers to upset the normal course of time." Smith said.

"You're talking about Flashpoint? How do you even know about?" Atom asked.

"They told us." Smith said.

"I made a mistake. Okay? I'm not gonna let it happen again." Flash said.

"For the past 60 years, we have enjoyed a truce with your so-called Dominators. You broke the truce." Smith said.

"What do they want?" Green Arrow said.

"I've negotiated a deal with them. If Mr. Allen surrenders himself They will leave us in peace. You really want to save the world? Here's your chance." Smith said, causing Flash to think.


	25. Chapter 25

"So, let me guess this straight. While we were off time traveling and trying to prove to the Dominators that humans aren't dicks, you guys discovered that a member of our own government is trying to sell Barry to the dominators?" Cisco asked as they all reconvened in the hangar.

"Yeah, that pretty much covers it." Laurel said.

"It's a trap." Sara said, stating the obvious.

"If they're that threatened by meta-humans, it's hard to believe they'd be satisfied with just one." Nate said.

"Yeah, well, if I know Barry, he's gonna want to be that one." Cisco said.

"Well, Oliver's trying to talk him out of it." Laurel said.

"And if he does, what's the collateral damage of the meta-bomb?" Nate asked.

"Projected casualty count is around 2 million non-meta-humans." Cisco said.

"Okay, so what if we negotiated with them?" Nate asked.

"Yeah, I don't know if you noticed, but our last chat with him didn't go so well." Cisco reminded him.

"Well, what've we got to lose?" Ray said.

"Look, maybe we should contact them." Laurel said.

"Then make it fast. We've got incoming." John said as he and Jax approached them.

"Dominator ships are coming in worldwide. Including Central City." Jax said.

"Yeah, but they're not moving or anything. They're just sitting there. For now." Hal said as he joined them.

"So much for the truce Secret Agent Man negotiated." Ray said.

"They're trying to leverage us into handing Barry over. Contact the Dominators." Sara said.

* * *

Later on that day, the whole team was gathered in the hangar as Barry prepared to surrender himself.

"Barry, it's crazy that you're even considering doing this." Roy said.

"This isn't up for debate. It's not even a close call. I mean Turn myself over to the Dominators, they leave the rest of the world alone. Simple." Barry said.

"No, it's not simple. Barry, it doesn't matter what you've done. You can't do this." Kara said.

"It's been an honor to know all of you, to fight alongside of you. Now it's up to you to keep our home safe." Barry said as he turned his back on them.

"Barry! I'm not letting you leave." Oliver said.

"No offense, Oliver, but you and what army?" Barry asked, only turn around to find nearly the entire team standing, all of them looking like they were ready to subdue him if necessary.

"This one." Kara said as a matter of factly.

"Listen, Red. I don't like you. But when you got a crew, you don't take a hit for the rest." Mick said, surprising everyone.

"That was actually pretty inspiring I mean, up until the point that Mick compared us to a bunch of criminals, but." Barry said with chuckle.

"According to the Dominators, we might as well be." Amaya countered.

"And maybe they're right. Maybe we do more harm than good, but this is our chance to find out." Nate said as Cisco walked up to Barry.

"We're not letting you sacrifice yourself. There's no way. I don't care if that's what it means to be a hero. You're not a hero to me," Cisco said and Barry looked ashamed, only to have Cisco surprise him by saying "You're my friend."

Barry smiled as he and Cisco shook hands and he could feel their friendship heal.

"Yo. Guys." Everyone turned to see Jax and Sara approach them.

"You know that ship that landed in Central City?" Jax asked.

"It's opening up." Sara said.

"Here we go." Oliver said.

* * *

"Reading reports of ships opening all over the world. Oh, frak." Felicity said.

"Talk to me." Oliver said.

"Something from the Dominators' mothership just broke atmo, and, not to get too technical, but it's really, really big and falling to Earth really, really fast." Felicity said.

"It's the meta-bomb." Barry said.

"Why would the uglies drop ships on us if they're just planning on blowing us up?" Felicity asked.

"Because the ships were a distraction to keep us from stopping the meta-bomb." Oliver said.

"Too bad, 'cause we're gonna stop it." Cisco said over the comms as he and Sara used the Waverider to head towards the bomb.

"We're gonna stop it, right?" Cisco asked Sara.

"Let's hope." Sara said.

"We have to keep the Dominators at bay." Oliver said.

"This might help," Stein said as he approached them with a small device in his hand, "I've mass-produced a small device that, when placed on individual Dominators, will cause indescribable agony. Not the nicest invention, but this is war."

"Nice going." Barry said.

"The caveat, of course, is that if we activate the weapons before all the devices are placed on the Dominators, they'll know what we're up to." Stein said.

"Well, we got to do it fast." Oliver said.

"Only way I know how." Barry said with a smile.


	26. Chapter 26

Steel, Vixen, Black Canary, Heat wave, Spartan, Green Arrow, Flash and Arsenal were all standing on the roof of building while Firestorm, Avalanche, Supergirl, Green Lantern and Atom floated behind them as they saw Dominators beam down in front of them and attack.

"You ready to end this?" Green Arrow asked Flash.

"You have no idea." Flash said as they all charged at once with Steel steeling up and they engaged the enemies.

"Fry you freaks." Heat wave shouted as he used his heat gun to light the alien invaders on fire.

"I see Sara's made some interesting friends." Black Canary said as she and Arsenal were pressed back to back.

"You're telling me." Arsenal agreed as they continued the fight as the Flash planted Stein's nanoweapons on the dominators.

* * *

After the Flash had finished planting all of the nanoweapons on the Dominators, Overwatch came on the comms.

"Nice job planting Professor Stein's nanoweapons but we've still got Dominators all over the country, this looks like a job for Supergirl." Overwatch said as Supergirl, Green Lantern and Flash all left the battlefield, as did Firestorm, though he was heading towards the metabomb.

"Thanks Felicity, I'm not the least bit insulted." Flash said.

"Neither am I honey." Green Lantern said to his girlfriend.

"I meant Supergirl, Flash and Green Lantern. This is totally a job for all three of you, that's what I meant, Supergirl, Flash and Green Lantern." Overwatch said.

"Nice to see some things never change." Green Arrow said with a smile.

"I heard that Green Arrow." Overwatch said.

"Not apologizing." Green Arrow said.

"All right, devices are being planted. Let me know when I can bring the pain." Overwatch said.

"Still waiting on that signal." Overwatch said.

"Do it!" Green Arrow said as suddenly the Dominators collapsed in pain.

"Done." Overwatch said.

"It's working." Atom said.

"What about the superhero bomb?" Heat wave asked, right as Firestorm turned said bomb to water.

"They're retreating." Steel said as Dominators were beamed up to the ship.

"It's not just them. It's all around the world." Overwatch said as Supergirl, Green Lantern and Flash joined them.

"He did it." Green Arrow said.

"No Oliver." Supergirl said.

"We all did it." Flash said as they watched the Dominator ship retreat.

* * *

Later on that night, Arsenal, Black Canary, Avalanche, Firestorm, Atom, Spartan, Green Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, White Canary, Heat wave, Vixen, Green Lantern and Steel were all standing behind the president at the hangar in front of some press and military personnel.

"Many responsibilities have fallen to me since the president's passing at the beginning of this crisis. Sobering, sad responsibilities. This is not one of them. Today, it is my distinct honor to bestow upon you a small acknowledgement of the great debt that the world owes to you all. Although your brave efforts must remain a secret. Know that, meta-human or not, masked or not, each and every one of you is a hero." The president said as everyone began clapping for the heroes.

* * *

After the ceremony, everyone was in full celebration mode. After popping open a bottle of champagne, everyone began breaking off into their own groups with Oliver and Felicity talking alone.

"So, how are things out there in Coast city?" Oliver asked her.

"They're good. Great actually. I've actually started working at this corporation called Ferris Aircraft, which is the top aviation corporation in the United States working on advanced aircraft and experimental aviation concepts." Felicity said.

"Really, what exactly is it you do?" Oliver asked.

"I've actually risen through the ranks rather quickly and now I lead my own team in creating the world's first self flying playing and I've been working on writing the code for the plane's AI." Felicity said.

"And in your free time, you're dating another vigilante in green?" Oliver asked with a raised eyebrow, causing Felicity to blush.

"What can I say, I have a type. Hal's a test pilot at Ferris, we met on my first day and we started hanging out more and more until he asked me out on a date." Felicity said with a smile.

"When did you figure out he was the Green Lantern?" Oliver asked.

"A few weeks ago and it was as if I couldn't help myself getting back into that life." Felicity said.

"While I think I know the answer to this, is there any chance you'd consider coming back to Star City? You've been missed." Oliver asked her.

"And I miss you guys to, but from what I hear, you've got a pretty solid team built up since I left. My life is Coast City now." Felicity said.

"Figured it was a shot." Oliver said.

"It was good to see you again though Oliver. I'm guessing that you and Laurel are doing okay?" Felicity asked.

"Yeah, we're great and amazingly, I haven't been impeached yet as the mayor of Star City." Oliver said.

"I've heard about what you've done as mayor so I can't say I'm surprised." Felicity said.

* * *

Later on, Oliver, Barry and Kara were walking away from the others and were talking.

"Hey. Either of you ever save the world before?" Kara asked.

"Mm-hmm." Barry nodded.

"Last year." Oliver said.

"It doesn't get old, does it?" Kara asked.

"Nope. It sure beats screwing up the world." Barry said.

"Hey, you are too hard on yourself." Kara said.

"That's what people usually tell me." Oliver said with a smile.

"And for good reason, I'm sure. But, back on my Earth, it's just me and my cousin. Between the two of us, we're." Kara said.

"More powerful than Yeah, everybody in this room combined." Barry said with a smile.

"No, no. That's the point. That's what you've all proven here. Meta-humans or not, superpowers or not, you are Earth's mightiest heroes." Kara said and Oliver and Barry both nodded.

"Um I owe you an apology. Keeping you at arm's length was the wrong move, and Well, the truth is that this Earth could probably use a Supergirl." Oliver said to Kara, surprising her.

"Well, that's that's funny, 'cause I was just thinking my Earth could use an Oliver Queen," Kara said and Oliver smiled as she continued, " I know you said you don't get unnerved. But if you did, I think hardship is what makes us stronger. That's probably why these people look to you as their rock."

"You guys feeling the group hug?" Barry asked.

"No." Oliver objected, but Barry and Kara were persistent.

"Come on." Kara and Barry both encouraged.

"All right." Oliver gave in as they hugged as Cisco approached them.

"Hey, Kara. I made you something." Cisco said as he handed Kara a box.

"What? - Cisco." Kara said as she opened it.

"Yeah." Cisco said.

"What, uh What is it?" Kara asked and Cisco chuckled.

"Oh, it's a It's an inter-dimensional extrapolator." Cisco said and Kara looked at him like he was speaking another language.

"It creates small breaches, so you can use it to cross over to our universe any time you need to." Cisco explained.

"Oh, my God. That's amazing." Kara said.

"I also included communication functionality, so if you ever need any help, you can always contact the team." Cisco said as they noticed agent Smith walk up to Nate.

"What the hell's he doing here?" Oliver asked, thinking that after Smith tried to sell Barry to the dominators, he had no right to be there.

"I got this." Kara said as she put on her bubbly face smile and walked over to Nate and Smith.

"Agent Smith! It's so funny seeing you here. I was just having the loveliest chat with your president about you," Kara said and the look on Smith's face soured considerably, "I was telling her, on my Earth, we have a Department of Extranormal Operations, which deals specifically with aliens. She thought as an excellent idea. She also loved my pitch about reassigning you to Antarctica."

Barry and Oliver could not keep themselves from laughing at the look on Smith's face at seeing the seemingly sweet Kara act so vicious.

"Maybe he'll be a little nicer next time we get visitors from another planet." Oliver said as Smith walked out.

"Maybe." Barry agreed as they continued chuckling.

* * *

After Kara had left to go back to her earth, the rest of the heroes began to go their separate ways.

"So, what happens now?" Barry asked Oliver and Dig.

"Well, just like how Roy used saving the world from Darhk as a get out jail free card last year, the president gave me a pardon to for helping stop the dominators. Her exact words were that anyone willing to save the world from alien invaders was no criminal." John said as Sara approached them.

"Hey Sara, you guys heading out?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, but first, I wanted to thank Barry." Sara said.

"Me?" Barry asked.

"Barry, you did what I never could. You saved my sister. And for that, I'll owe you one. You need me, anytime, anywhere and I'll be there." Sara said.

"Sara, you don't need to do that." Barry said.

"Yes I do. I can never thank you enough for saving Laurel, even if it was by accident." Sara said and Barry nodded as they shook hands and Sara then turned to Oliver.

"It's weird to think that all of this started with the two of us. You ever think what it would be like if we never got on that boat?" Sara asked him.

"I don't know if I have to think about it. I mean, maybe the Dominators showed us what our lives would have been like." Oliver said.

"I know it was a prison, but in a way." Sara said.

"In a way, it was a gift." Oliver finished and she nodded.

"Stay out of trouble and keep an eye on my sister for me." Sara said.

"Yeah." Oliver said as he hugged her before she walked off.

"There she goes, off to her spaceship, time traveling as if it's totally normal." John said.

"Well, John, it's like you said. Normal sort of went out the window - when this one arrived." Oliver said, referring to Barry, who chuckled.

"I may never understand you, man, but you're one of the best men I know." Dig said as he and Barry shook hands.

"Thanks, Dig. So you forgive me for what I did?" Barry asked.

"Barry, it's like I keep telling this guy. You have to forgive yourself." John said.

"Yeah." Barry said.

"Good luck." John said as he left to.


	27. Chapter 27

Green Arrow was standing in front of the wreckage of what was once CNRI, standing in front of Prometheus.

He lowered his hood and mask as he looked at Prometheus.

"I know who you are." Oliver said simply.

* * *

 _One week earlier_

Oliver and Laurel had just entered the venue Thea had selected for Oliver's mayoral Christmas party.

"Thea, this party is incredible." Laurel said to Thea.

"Thanks well, I needed something to do while you were all out fighting aliens." Thea said.

"Still not apologizing for that." Oliver said as he hugged his sister.

"Well, anyways, besides, I am the daughter of Moira Queen, planning a kick ass Christmas party is in my blood." Thea said with a smile.

"Where's your date?" Laurel asked.

"Enjoying the last Christmas he has to get drunk before he becomes a father." Thea said and Oliver rolled his eyes in amusement.

"Something tells me that's not what he's really doing and why you'd believe that is beyond me." Oliver said as a waitress arrived with a tray of champagne and offered it to them and Oliver took one and was surprised when Thea didn't take one.

"Did you develop a hatred for champagne while we were in Central City?" Oliver asked her.

"No, but I read that it's not a good idea to consume alcohol while in my current condition." Thea said and Oliver smiled at her.

"You're really taking this whole pregnancy thing seriously, I'm impressed Speedy." Laurel said.

"Hey, I'm a changed woman. But what is that?" Thea asked as she took a look at Laurel's newest accessory.

"Ollie gave it to me." Laurel said as she showed off her new necklace, which was gold disk on it that had a black bird on it.

"Is that a bird?" Thea asked.

"It's a canary. A black canary." Oliver said.

"Seems appropriate." Thea said.

"Thank you." Laurel said.

"I know how you're able to afford the loft, but even on a mayor's salary, that necklace looks a bit out of your price range." Thea said as she took a closer look at Laurel's necklace.

"Well, it helps to have a girlfriend with a law degree." Oliver said.

"Excuse me?" Thea asked.

"In my free time, I've been working on case to get back what Isabel Rochev stole from you guys, minus the company of course, since you don't need it, but I've been working on recovering your other assets, particularly your bank accounts and I've finally succeeded in getting it passed, all of your bank accounts have been returned to you." Laurel said.

"Still, it must've mostly been depleted by now." Thea said.

"That's what I thought until around the same time, I discovered that dad had more secrets than we thought, including secret bank accounts." Oliver said.

"What do you mean secret bank accounts?" Thea asked.

"Apparently Dad was paranoid that I'd do something like that if I ever took over the the company, because he had about 60 million dollars worth bank transfers made into accounts that he kept completely off the books and untouched." Oliver said.

"Isn't that illegal?" Thea asked.

"No, actually, all the accounts were legal and even documented, your father just didn't have them tied to the rest of your assets. Actually pretty smart." Laurel said.

"So all of the money is legal then?" Thea asked.

"Yep and Thea, you have your inheritance from Malcolm, so you don't need it." Oliver said.

"Relax, I know, I'm just making sure, since it is my job to keep the mayor from doing anything that could get him impeached." Thea said.

"And I appreciate that Thea, but right now, I have a speech to give." Oliver said as he walked over to the podium.

"Happy holidays. Everyone, thank you so much for coming. My favorite Christmas movie is "Die Hard." It's true. My second favorite Christmas movie is "It's a Wonderful Life," and, uh, I was very lucky to be able to rewatch that movie last week. It reminded me how much work I still have to do, how much work all of us still have to do, and it inspired me to recommit myself to making our city, our home a better and a safer place. Cheers." Oliver said as he raised his glass.

* * *

Later on that night, Oliver and Laurel showed up at Starling General to see Curtis in a hospital bed.

"Curtis, are you alright?" Oliver asked.

"I'm great. Just a little banged up like I always am when I get into street fights with muggers." Curtis said.

"It wasn't a mugger. It was a serial killer, the Throwing Star Killer. I thought you had the anti-crime unit taking care of this." Paul said.

"We do, Paul, and we're working very hard to catch him, I promise." Oliver assured him.

"Actually, your statement could really help. Detective Malone is just outside if you'd feel comfortable answering a few questions." Laurel said and Paul nodded as he walked out.

"Nice to see your training is paying off after all." Oliver said.

"Prometheus. He attacked me as, well, me." Curtis said and Oliver and Laurel both knew what that meant.

"So he knows you're Mr. Terrific. Yeah, which means he probably knows." Curtis drawled out.

"He knows that I'm the Green Arrow." Oliver said and Curtis nodded.

"Oliver, this is getting serious." Laurel said.

"Agreed. Curtis, you rest up, we need you in top form and I will order an armed guard here if you try to leave, but the rest of us need to meet in the base and prepare to make our next move." Oliver said and Laurel nodded as they headed out.

* * *

"So Prometheus knows that Curtis is Mr. Terrific, even though he never leaves the bunker, he knows you're the Green Arrow, which means that." Evelyn said.

"Yeah, it means that he most likely knows who the rest of you are." Oliver said.

"How is Curtis by the way?" John asked.

"Better now that the Dycloseral's out of his system. Prometheus injected him with it when he attacked him." Laurel said.

"Dycloseral. Now why does that ring a bell?" John asked sarcastically, looking at Oliver.

"Because 4 years ago, the Hood took down Justin Claybourne, the CEO of the pharmaceutical company that manufactures it." Roy said and all eyes turned to Oliver.

"By took him down, you mean killed, right?" Evelyn asked.

"Yeah. Is that going to be a problem Evelyn?" Oliver asked.

"No." Evelyn said.

"Are you lying?" Oliver asked.

"Maybe." Evelyn admitted.

"Uh, can you guys give us a minute?" Oliver asked and the others nodded before leaving him and Evelyn alone.

"Evelyn, I know you met with Prometheus." Oliver said.

"How did you know?" Evelyn asked.

"Did you honestly think I wouldn't keep an eye on you after how you reacted to finding out to finding out about my past?" Oliver asked and Evelyn had to give him that.

"Why didn't you rat me out?" Evelyn asked.

"Because I know that deep down, you are a good person who just made some bad choices and I can relate to that. But Evelyn, I'm giving you a chance to make up for your mistakes. What do you know about Prometheus?" Oliver asked.

"Why should I listen to you when you're nothing but a hypocrite?" Evelyn asked.

"Because that doesn't justify risking the lives of everyone else on this team and their loved ones. If anything, it makes you just as bad as the man who killed your parents." Oliver said and while he knew that was a low blow, he also knew it needed to be said as his words had the necessary effect on Evelyn.

"You're right. I can't believe I let myself get so caught up in anger that I lost sight of who I was." Evelyn said.

"Hey, I've been there, believe me I have. But what's done is done and all we can do now is move forward. And you can start moving forward by telling me everything you know about and told Prometheus." Oliver said.

"I don't know much about him, he never took off his mask in front of me, but I told him about Roy, Curtis, Rene and Rory. Somehow he already knew about you, Laurel, John, even your sister and Laurel's dad." Evelyn said and that Oliver's attention.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know how he knows about you guys, I mean you, I'm sure Church told him, but the rest of them, the most I could guess is that he pieced Laurel being the Black Canary together, but as for John, Thea and Quentin, I have no idea." Evelyn said.

"Just another reason for us to figure out who the hell he is under his mask." Oliver said.

"Oliver, I have a suggestion on how to do that." Evelyn said.

"I'm listening." Oliver said.

"What if I become your spy inside. Prometheus already believes I've turned on you and you know I can be a very convincing actress when I need to be." Evelyn said.

"I don't know Evelyn, sounds risky." Oliver said.

"Please. Oliver, I made this mess, I need to clean it up." Evelyn said.

"Okay, but I'm not letting you go in unprepared. If you even begin to think that Prometheus is on to you, you pull the ripcord, I already have enough deaths on my conscience without adding you to the list." Oliver said and Evelyn nodded.


	28. Chapter 28

"So, why exactly are we at the old Claybourne manufacturing plant, I thought it went belly up after you offed the CEO." Wilddog asked Green Arrow as they investigated an old location that Green Arrow hadn't been to or thought about in 4 years, the old Clayborne Pharmaceutical pant.

"Because Prometheus using Dycloseral after 4 years sends a message." Green Arrow said.

"What message?" Artemis asked

"I'm alive, and I'm coming for you." Green Arrow responded.

"You think that Prometheus is Justin Clayborne?" Black Canary asked incredulously.

"You of all people should know that people who are dead in this city have a tendency to back." Green Arrow reminded her.

"Fair point." Black Canary gave in.

"Wait what?" Ragman asked over the comms.

"Long story that we'll explain later, but for now, everyone stay focused on the mission." Green Arrow said.e

"Copy that, alpha team in position." Wilddog said, referring to himself and Artemis.

"Beta team in position." Spartan said, referring to himself and Arsenal.

"Back door's covered, if he's in there, he's not getting out." Ragman said as he and Black Canary took the exit.

"Copy, moving in now." Green Arrow said as he reached the doors.

"Really wishing Felicity or Curtis were here right now." Green Arrow said. right as the doors unlocked themselves.

"Well, that wasn't subtle at all." Green Arrow said as he entered the room to see Prometheus waiting for him.

"Justin Claybourne, you have failed this city." Green Arrow said and it felt oddly satisfying saying that again.

"Not as badly as you have Mr. Queen." Prometheus said.

"So you do know who I am." Green Arrow said.

"And it appears that you still have no idea who I am. Disappointing. I really thought you would've figured it out by now, Ollie." Prometheus said, causing Green Arrow to freeze, since only a four people had ever called him that.

He didn't get to think about it that long as Wilddog and Artemis burst into the room and they all engaged with Prometheus pulling a move that Green Arrow had only seen one other person aside from himself use, only to have Artemis 'turn' on them.

"What the Evelyn? Why?" Green Arrow asked, playing his part well.

"Because you're not a hero. You're a fraud. This city needs to be saved from you." Artemis said and Green Arrow had to admit that she seemed convincing and he got the feeling that she wasn't lying about her feelings as Prometheus dropped a smoke bomb and they both escaped as Spartan barged into the room.

"Where's Prometheus?" Spartan asked.

"He's gone with Evelyn." Green Arrow said.

"He took her." Spartan asked.

"He's working with her." Green Arrow said.

* * *

"You don't seem as betrayed by this as I thought you would be." Laurel asked as they all entered the bunker.

"You knew did you?" John asked him.

"I did. After Evelyn's reaction to finding out about the Hood, I bugged her and discovered her first meeting with Prometheus." Oliver admitted.

"Why didn't you tell us any of this?" Laurel demanded.

"Because I needed to talk to her first, since I understood her anger. That's what we spoke about before we left for the plant." Oliver said.

"And she still betrayed us?" John asked.

"Not exactly." Oliver said.

"You're using Evelyn the same way you used my dad last year." Laurel realized.

"It was her idea actually. I convinced Evelyn that her vendetta against me does not justify her going after you guys and she agreed and then she convinced me to let her go undercover as our spy inside." Oliver said.

"And why didn't you tell us this?" Rene asked.

"I needed to make sure you could be convincing." Oliver explained.

"Still, if Evelyn's going to be a cover there, we need to play the part, like oh I don't know, move our loved ones to a more secure location." Roy suggested and Oliver nodded.

"Roy, get Thea packed up, I want her staying down here until we get this resolved, Laurel, do the same thing with your dad." Oliver said.

"I can get Lyla and JJ to a safehouse, you guys give me the names and socials of the people you care about. I'll make sure they get to that safe house." John said as Oliver began to walk out.

"Ollie, you okay?" Laurel asked.

"Prometheus, before you guys burst in, he said something to me. Something that didn't make sense." Oliver said.

"Really, what was it?" Laurel asked.

"He called me Ollie." Oliver said.

"So, he called you by a nickname, what's wrong with that?" Rory asked.

"You don't understand, there's only a small group of people who know that Oliver's nickname is Ollie and only an even smaller group of people have ever called him that." Laurel said.

"Well, who are they, might help us narrow down the list." Rene said.

"Laurel and Thea, but neither of them would do that, plus I'm pretty that Prometheus is a man and Thea's pregnant and Laurel's been there every time we saw Prometheus, Laurel's sister Sara, but she's currently off time travelling and again, Prometheus is a man." Oliver said.

"Is there anyone else?" Roy asked.

"Well, there is one other person." Laurel said and Oliver looked at her in disbelief.

"No, Laurel that's impossible." Oliver said, refusing to believe it.

"Oliver, I know you don't want to believe it, but we have to look at the facts. It's all pointing one way." Laurel said.

"No way, even if he is back, why would he attacking us?" Oliver asked.

"I don't know." Laurel admitted.

"Wait, who are you guys talking about?" Rory asked.

"Before you tell them, I need to confirm it with my own eyes." Oliver said as he walked out of the room.

"Where is he going?" Roy asked.

"I don't know." Laurel admitted.

* * *

The Green Arrow had just arrived at a place he had not been to in a little under 4 years. The wreckage of CNRI. And sure enough, Prometheus was waiting for him.

Green Arrow pulled down his hood and mask before looking at him.

"I know who you are." Oliver said to him.

"It's about time." Prometheus said.

"I think I've already known who you were on some subconscious level. I just didn't want to put it together. I didn't want to believe that it was you who has caused so much pain. Take off your mask." Oliver told him.

"What's the point, you already know who I am." Prometheus said.

"I need to see with my own eyes." Oliver insisted.

Prometheus nodded and pulled off his mask and Oliver felt his breath hitch as he saw the face of Tommy Merlyn look back at him.

"What's the matter Ollie? Not pleased to see me?" Tommy asked.


	29. Chapter 29

"How?" Oliver asked, just to have Tommy give him the silent treatment.

"DAMN IT TELL ME HOW THIS HAPPENED?" Oliver shouted at him.

"Death is just another prison, you of all people should know that." Tommy said.

"Your father brought you back using the Lazarus pit didn't he?" Oliver asked.

"No, you see, my father had no idea that the pit could actually do that, otherwise he would've brought my mother back to. No I was brought back by another Lazarus pit in the possession of a woman. She brought me back and trained me to become your worst enemy." Tommy said.

"Who did this?" Oliver asked.

"I thought that move I pulled back at the plant would've told you. After all we had the same teacher." Tommy said.

"Talia." Oliver said and Tommy nodded.

"Why would she do this?" Oliver asked.

"Because 2 years ago you killed her father, just like how you killed mine." Tommy said.

"Your father never gave a rat's ass about you." Oliver said.

"Maybe not, but he was still my father and you lied to me when you told me you let him live." Tommy said.

"What did you mean when you said I killed Talia's father?" Oliver asked.

"Think about it? Who was the only person you killed 2 years ago." Tommy asked and Oliver's blood ran cold.

"Talia's father was Ra's al Ghul." Oliver said.

"Yes, and then to add insult to injury, you inadvertently caused the destruction of the League of Assassins." Tommy said.

"Tommy, Talia is just using you to get to me." Oliver said.

"No, I'm doing this for me to. For years, you were always treated better than I was. You took everything from me. You took the woman I loved." Tommy said.

"I never took her, you let her go. You have no one to blame for that but yourself." Oliver said.

"Maybe, but then you couldn't help yourself could you. And she is just as much to blame for what happened to me as you are." Tommy said.

"If you so much as lay a hand on Laurel, I'll kill you myself." Oliver said.

"You already did that." Tommy said.

"Tommy please, I am begging you, come back." Oliver said.

"Oh, I don't think so Oliver." a woman's voice said as a face Oliver hadn't seen in 5 years approached him.

"Talia, what the hell did you do to him?" Oliver demanded.

"Different Lazarus pits have different effects on those who use them. Tommy's was a blank memory." Talia said.

"You brainwashed him into your servant." Oliver realized.

"The perfect instrument of my revenge. Someone I know you will never hurt." Talia said, just to have Oliver raise his bow at her.

"You're going to tell me how to free him right now." Oliver told her.

"No, I don't think I am. Attack." Talia said.

"Yes mistress." Tommy said as he unsheathed his sword and lunged at Oliver, who barely caught the strike with his bow.

"I don't want to hurt you Tommy." Oliver told him.

"Don't worry, you won't." Tommy assured him as he swung at him.

* * *

"Oliver's been gone too long. Should we worry?" Rory asked.

"Relax, with Oliver we give it a full week before we start worrying about him." Laurel said.

"Well, there's no need to worry, because I'm back." Oliver as he entered the base and he looked more shaken up then they'd ever seen him.

"Oliver, did you find out who Prometheus is?" John asked.

"I did." Oliver said.

"Well, don't keep us waiting in suspense. Who is it?" Rene asked.

"It's Tommy. Tommy Merlyn." Oliver said, tears in his eyes.

"Wait, who?" Rene asked.

"Oliver's best friend. He died 4 years ago in the Undertaking." John said, since Oliver and Laurel were both in too much shock to answer.

"How?" Laurel asked him, her voice threatening to break.

"Nyssa isn't the only daughter of Ra's al Ghul out there. She has an older sister. Talia al Ghul. She has her own Lazarus pit, which she used to bring Tommy back and she corrupted his mind." Oliver said.

"It sounds like you knew this Talia?" Rene said.

"I met her 5 years ago when I was in Russia. She taught me a lot of what I know." Oliver said.

"So why would she turn on you like that?" John asked.

"Because apparently she liked her father a lot more than Nyssa did." Oliver said.

"That's what this is about, you killing Ra's?" Laurel asked.

"Yep and Talia has turned Tommy into the instrument to get vengeance." Oliver said.

"Um, would you mind cluing us in?" Rory asked, referring to himself and Rene.

"2 years ago the head of this organization called the League of Assassins named Ra's al Ghul attacked his city in the Outbreak. I ended up killing him. And it appears that Talia what's revenge." Oliver said.

"So your actions are literally coming back to haunt you." Rene said.

"Now is really not the time." Laurel growled.

"Yeesh, what's your problem?" Rene asked.

"Tommy is Laurel's ex and it didn't end well." Oliver explained.

"Oh." Rene said.

"Yeah, so we can try and figure out how to get Tommy back?" Laurel asked.

"Get in contact with Nyssa. We'll need her help. And it's clear that Thea and Quentin will not be safe here, especially with Thea being in her current state." Oliver said.

"I'll get her out of the city." Roy said.

"Good, I don't care what you do, but I will not let my little sister or your kid become collateral damage in this fight." Oliver said.

"Do you really think that Tommy would kill his own sister?" Laurel asked.

"Tommy never knew that Thea was his sister." Oliver reminded him.

"Just another reason to put a bullet in this guy's head then." Rene said.

"Wait what?" Oliver asked Rene.

"This guy's a mass murderer. He's killed tons of innocent people." Rene said.

"While under some kind of mind control. I failed to save Tommy once before and I refuse to have to live with that pain again." Oliver said as he walked out of the bunker.


	30. Chapter 30

Oliver was standing out on the terrace of the loft, overlooking the view of the city while thinking about Tommy and how he was going to save his friend when he heard someone approach from behind him.

"I forgot I gave you a key." Oliver said to Laurel as she approached him.

"Oliver, I know what you're thinking right now and just for the sake of asking it, do you really think that you can save Tommy?" Laurel asked.

"Laurel, you know me well enough to know that I at least have to try to save him. Especially after I failed to before." Oliver said.

"And if he proves that he's too far into the dark to be saved?" Laurel asked.

"He isn't." Oliver said.

"Oliver, how can you say that after everything he's done over the past few months?" Laurel asked.

"Because if that's true then it means that I never left the dark after spending the past 10 years dealing with the worst of the worst." Oliver said.

"What are you talking about?" Laurel asked, confused.

"While I was Russia 5 years ago, the woman who brainwashed Tommy, Talia, she made me believe that if I gave my inner darkness an identity, the Hood, then I'd be free to be Oliver Queen. But after seeing Tommy I realize that she was wrong. The darkness inside of me is a part of me and I was a fool to think otherwise. But I also realized that I found my way back into the light and if I can do that, then I have to believe that anyone can." Oliver said.

"Oliver, I get what you're saying, I really do. But Tommy, maybe the Pit's effects on him took away whatever light was left in him." Laurel said.

"I refuse to believe that Laurel and I can't believe that you would." Oliver said.

"I don't want to, but I'm being realistic. Honestly Ollie, it doesn't look good." Laurel said.

"If I gave up when someone seemed too far gone to be redeemed, Roy would not be here right now. He'd be one of Slade Wilson's lapdogs. And I never would've come home." Oliver said.

"Oliver, why are you so determined to save him?" Laurel asked.

"Because saving him saves you." Oliver said.

"What?" Laurel asked.

"He blames you for his death as much as he does me and he plans on killing you." Oliver said.

"Damien Darhk already tried to kill me. It didn't take." Laurel reminded him.

"Doesn't matter. Laurel, your safety, your survival, it will always be my top priority. I've lived without you before and it was miserable. I can't ever risk losing you again." Oliver said.

"You won't. If anything, I'm worried about losing you. I've felt that pain before and I cannot, I will not, go through it again." Laurel said.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"Ollie, you of all people know how grief does strange things to me. After Tommy died, I became a drunk and drug addict. After Sara died, I tried to be like you. I mean sure, that ended paying off, but still. But I'm afraid of what the grief of losing you will do to me." Laurel confessed.

"Laurel, you won't ever lose me again. I promise. If there's one thing I've proven to you over the past 5 years, it's that I always find my way home. I'll always find my way back to you." Oliver promised her.

"I hope that's true. Because Ollie you have seen me deal with loss and grief, which is how you know it's ugly. And if I lost you again, it would be even worse than it was after Tommy died and that turned me into a drunk and if I lose you to, it will be a lot worse. As in rehab necessary worse." Laurel said.

Oliver cupped her face in his hand before saying "Laurel, I promise, when this is over, the only one dead will be Talia al Ghul for doing this to Tommy in the first place. I'm not going anywhere."

"I wish I could believe that, but Ollie, you and I both know there are no guarantees in our line of work." Laurel said.

Oliver kissed her before saying "I promise you, I'm not going anywhere."

"And, just for the sake of asking, if at any point you realize that you can't save Tommy without me getting hurt?" Laurel asked.

"If he hurts you, then forget everything I just said because I will kill him." Oliver said.

* * *

"So, tell me again why I have to pack?" Thea asked as Roy helped her pack.

"Because now that we know that Prometheus is Tommy Merlyn, Oliver thinks that you're not safe here in Star City, especially with the baby." Roy said.

"Roy, why would Tommy come after his own sister?" Thea asked.

"Because he died before we found out he was your brother and besides, he's not in his right mind at the moment, which makes him incredibly dangerous." Roy said.

"All the more reason for me to stay close to you guys." Thea said.

"Thea, Oliver and I need to be able to put all of our focus on finding Tommy and Talia and stopping them and we can't do that if we also have to worry about you." Roy said.

"Roy, I'm not running." Thea said.

"Thea, you are in no condition to fight him." Roy protested.

"I'm pregnant, not a paraplegic." Thea said.

"Thea, the answer is no. You're not staying here and you're not fighting Prometheus." Roy said as Oliver entered the room.

"She still fighting with you?" Oliver asked, knowing his sister all too well.

"Yeah, maybe you'll have better luck." Roy said as he walked out of the room.

"I'm not going anywhere Ollie. I thought that you of all people would get that?" Thea said.

"Thea, Tommy has already put Curtis in the hospital and he's killed at least dozen people. I can't worry about you and focus on saving him at the same time. I need to be able to put all my focus into helping my friend." Oliver said.

"You really think you can save him?" Thea asked.

"I think I have to try. After all, I managed to save Roy after the mirakuru. Please, Speedy, you're the only family I have left." Oliver said.

"If you think you can save my other brother, then go for it. I'll go stay with Felicity in Coast City. I'm sure she won't mind some company." Thea said.

"Great, I'll let you know when the situation's resolved." Oliver said as he hugged her goodbye.


	31. Chapter 31

"So, how exactly am I getting to Coast City, since I assume that it's too dangerous for me to get there through any conventional means?" Thea asked her brother.

"Beats me, all Felicity would say is that a friend of her's was coming to get you." Oliver said.

"Really, who could possibly get me to Coast City safely?" Thea asked as they both noticed a Green streak in the air.

"Asked and answered." Oliver said as the Green Lantern landed outside.

"Felicity said someone needed a lift." Green Lantern said.

"Yep, my sister Thea. Good to see you again Hal." Oliver said as Green Lantern's mask disappeared.

"Guess it's okay for you guys know my identity, otherwise my mask wouldn't have disappeared." Hal said.

"So wait, how did Felicity manage to get the Green Lantern to come all the way here from Coast City, just to pick me up?" Thea asked.

"It's simple, she's sleeping with him." Oliver said and Hal didn't even deny it.

"What is it with Felicity and guys in green?" Thea asked with a smile.

"You can ask her when we get back. She asked me to bring you straight back to her place as a favor." Hal said.

"Okay then, let's go." Thea said as she picked up her bag.

"Get in." Hal said as his mask reappeared and he used his power ring to create a green carriage that had the door open for her.

"Impressive, but how do I know that it'll hold?" Thea asked.

"Because as long as I will it to hold, it will and I am too terrified of having to tell my girlfriend that I dropped her friend out of the sky.

"Don't bother worrying about what Felicity would do to you. Worry more about what I'd do to you." Oliver said in a not so veiled threat.

"Ok then, let's go." Thea said as she got in the carriage.

"Remember, you drop her, I drop you off a cliff, without your ring." Oliver told Green Lantern.

"Noted." Green Lantern assured him before flying off with Thea in tow.

* * *

"So, Thea's in Coast City with Felicity and I sent my dad and Donna to Keystone, so that should keep them out of the crosshairs for right now." Laurel said as the team gathered in the bunker.

"Great, so, what's our next move?" Curtis asked as Evelyn entered the bunker and she looked beat up.

"Evelyn, what happened to you?" Oliver asked as he and Laurel rushed to her side.

"Prometheus made me. I barely managed to escape with my life." Evelyn said.

"No, that was no accident. Talia's too smart for that. She had Prometheus let you go for a reason and I think I know what that reason is. Suit up now." Oliver said and no one questioned him as they all rushed to get their suits and gear, right as the lights in the bunker went out for a few minutes and when they came back on, Talia and Tommy were standing at the controls.

"Wow Oliver, I have to say, this lair looks so much cooler than your last one, it'll almost be a shame to destroy it." Tommy said.

"Tommy I know you're still in there, you have to fight her." Oliver said as he grabbed his bow and quiver.

"Tommy Merlyn is dead. You should know that better than anyone Oliver. After all, you were there." Tommy said.

"Tommy, please." Laurel begged him.

"Hello Laurel, I see you've completely forgotten the role you played in my death. Something I'm going to make sure you never do again." Tommy said as he pointed his sword at her, just to have an arrow knock the sword aside, causing Tommy to look over at Oliver, who was holding his bow up.

"I didn't think you had it in you to shoot me." Tommy said.

"I don't want to hurt you Tommy, but I will in order to protect Laurel." Oliver said.

"Please Oliver, you couldn't protect your mother, what chance do you have at protecting her?" Talia asked, only to have Oliver roar in rage as he tackled her and they began to fight, blade on bow, while the rest of the team circled Tommy.

"You really think that you can beat me?" Tommy asked, right as a new arrow hit his shoulder, causing everyone to turn to see Nyssa al Ghul standing there, her own bow raised.

"I believe I can." Nyssa said.

"Good timing." Laurel said.

"Sorry for cutting it close." Nyssa apologized.

"Apologize later, fight now." Oliver ordered and the team nodded as they all engaged, with Nyssa and Laurel aiding Oliver in fighting Talia while Roy and Dig led Rory, Evelyn and Rene against Tommy.

"Enough, I know a lost battle when I see one." Talia said as she nodded at Tommy, who nodded back and suddenly the lights went out again and they came back on, Tommy and Talia were gone, but they weren't the only ones.

Roy, Evelyn, Rene and Curtis were all missing to.


	32. Chapter 32

"Where did they take them?" Laurel asked as they tried to find clues about where Tommy and Talia had taken their teammates.

"No idea, but we need to find them." Oliver said.

"Do you think it would do us any good to check out any Merlyn Global facilities?" Dig asked.

"Doubtful, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to look." Oliver said.

"How do we know that they didn't take any other hostages?" Rory asked.

"Talia would have to be even crazier than I thought and that's saying something, to go after someone being protected by the Green Lantern and Lylar confirmed that Quentin and Donna made it to the safehouse in Keystone." Oliver assured them.

"What about your friends from Central City?" John asked.

"Why would Prometheus go after the Flash?" Rory asked.

"He wouldn't. It's not who John was talking about." Oliver said.

"Then who?" Rory asked.

"You did promise them no more secrets." Laurel reminded Oliver.

"He's talking about my son William." Oliver said.

"Wait, you guys have a kid?" Rory asked, looking at Oliver and Laurel.

"No we don't. William is Oliver's son from an affair he had about 10 years ago." Laurel said, giving her boyfriend a look that clearly read that while she was no longer mad about him cheating on her, she still wasn't exactly thrilled to find out that one of those affairs led to him becoming a father.

"Okay, moving on, should we be worried about Prometheus going after your son?" Rory asked.

"Not likely, since aside from the people in this room, the only people who know about William that are alive are Thea, Roy, Quentin and Felicity and even so, after Damien Darhk took William hostage last year, he and his mother moved to another city under new names that I don't know, since we decided that my not being William's life is the best thing I can do for him." Oliver said.

"Harsh." Rory said.

"Maybe, but it's the best thing for William, whether I like it or not." Oliver said.

"Okay, so, why don't Rory and I go check out Merlyn Global's facilities in the city?" John said.

"Nyssa, go with them and also search all known Tempest locations. Could be useful." Oliver said and 3 of them nodded before heading out.

"What about me?" Laurel asked, wondering why Oliver was sidelining her.

"You're staying right here with me." Oliver said.

"Ollie, is now really the time to be overprotective?" Laurel asked him.

"It's not being overprotective. You're our heaviest hitter, so I want you at my side so I don't have to worry about them brainwashing you and turning you against me to." Oliver said and Laurel nodded in understanding.

"We'll get them back Ollie." Laurel said.

"I know." Oliver said.

"You're worried about Tommy aren't you?" Laurel asked.

"I can't help it. I mean I know he's done some terrible things, but I still can't lose hope that my friend is still in there somewhere." Oliver said.

"Then maybe that's the answer." Laurel said.

"What are you talking about?" Oliver asked.

"Every time you've seen him, it's been as Green Arrow and Prometheus. And since that isn't getting it done, maybe Oliver Queen should be the one to try to get through to Tommy Merlyn." Laurel said.

"It's possible, I mean, the Arrow couldn't get through to Roy when he was on a Mirakuru high, but I could. Maybe the same thing can be said about Tommy. But we still have to find him first." Oliver said as his phone rang.

"Hello." Oliver said.

"Oliver, it's Felicity." Felicity said.

"Felicity, what's going on?" Oliver asked, hearing the panic in her voice.

"I don't know how he found her, Hal and I only went out for dinner, but Prometheus took Thea." Felicity said and Oliver's blood ran cold.

"Felicity, calm down. You and Hal need to get somewhere safe. I'll worry about finding her." Oliver said as he hung up.

"What's going on?" Laurel asked.

"Tommy took Thea." Oliver said.

"I'm going to call the safe house and make sure that my dad and Donna are still there." Laurel said and Oliver nodded in agreement.

* * *

After losing touch with the Argus team assigned to guard Quentin and Donna at the safehouse, Lyla hooked Oliver and Laurel up with security footage from the building only to see Quentin talking to Laurel.

"What, how am I there?" Laurel asked.

"I'm not so certain you are." Oliver said.

"What are you talking about?" Laurel asked.

"After we discovered the full range of your powers, I contacted Cisco to let him know so that your powers could be documented in the MPR." Oliver said.

"The what?" Laurel interrupted.

"Meta power registry. It's a classified list that Barry's team has so they can keep track of the powers of all the metas they come across." Oliver explained.

"Would've been nice to know they have me on a list." Laurel said.

"Anyways, when I told him, he told me that you have the same powers as your doppelganger from another earth." Oliver said.

"Wait, I mean, I know that there are apparently parallel universes from our little fight with aliens, but another me?" Laurel asked.

"Apparently when Zoom invaded Central City last year, he brought his army from his earth to ours and one of his lieutenants is your doppelganger who also has a sonic scream." Oliver said.

"So where is she now?" Laurel asked.

"Last time I talked to Cisco, she was in lock up in the Pipeline at Star Labs. But maybe now we should double check." Oliver said.

"You don't seem that surprised that Tommy would be working with an evil version of me." Laurel pointed out.

"That's because Tommy's always had a thing for you, so a cheap knockoff from another universe might be the next best thing." Oliver said.

"Nice to know that even in the state he's in now, somethings never change." Laurel said.

"Some ideals are even stronger than death. I think you and I are experts at knowing that by now." Oliver said and Laurel nodded.


	33. Chapter 33

It had been over 3 hours since John, Rory and Nyssa had left to investigate Merlyn Global and now Oliver and Laurel were starting to get worried about them, especially given that everyone else they hold dear was being held prisoner by Talia al Ghul, who had already turned Tommy against them, so they were fairly certain that they were now prisoners of wars.

Right now they were getting ready to search the city when Lyla entered the bunker.

"Lyla, what are you doing here?" Laurel asked.

"John never came home and he's not answering his phone, so I assumed he was here with you guys." Lyla said.

"He's not here, we were actually about to go looking for him." Oliver said.

"What happened?" Lyla asked.

"We suspect the same thing that happened to the others, that he's been captured by Talia." Oliver said.

"I'll have Argus help with the search." Lyla said.

"I've also contacted Star Labs, since we believe that Talia is employing the services of meta from another and Star labs has the only satellite on earth that locate that sort of stuff." Oliver said and Lyla nodded.

"I'll let you know if I find anything." Lyla said as the elevator opened again and Nyssa walked out, though she looked very beat up as she limped in, holding her left arm.

"Nyssa." Oliver said as he and Laurel ran up to her.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Nyssa said.

"Nyssa, you can barely walk, what happened?" Laurel asked as she and Oliver helped Nyssa sit down.

"We split up the moment we arrived at Merlyn Global to cover more ground and I lost contact with Mr. Diggle and Mr. Regan shortly afterwards, but before I could investigate, I was ambushed by Talia's students." Nyssa said.

"So, you're the former heir to the demon." Oliver said.

"Maybe so, but Talia was also once the heir to the demon and it seems that she never taught them the value of honor." Nyssa said.

"So, why wouldn't they take you to?" Laurel asked.

"Talia would most likely want to fight Nyssa personally, with it being a fair fight. Just like your father." Oliver said.

"How do we plan on stopping someone who used to be the heir to the demon when the one daughter of Ra's al Ghul we had on our side was defeated?" Laurel asked.

"I don't know yet, but we will figure out something. In the meantime, we need to figure out where everyone else is." Oliver said, right as his phone rang with a video message.

Oliver answered it and to his shock and anger, he saw that it was a message from William and wherever he was, it was clear that it was not by choice.

"Help me, please, help me." William begged and before Oliver could even begin to trace the call, it ended.

"What's wrong?" Laurel asked.

"Talia crossed a line. She kidnapped William." Oliver growled as his phone rang again.

"Hello?" Oliver snapped.

"Hey Oliver, now a bad time?" Cisco asked.

"Cisco, what is it?" Oliver asked.

"The satellite found something. An earth-2 meta was located and it was not in Central City with the others." Cisco said.

"Okay, so, how are you certain that it's our meta?" Oliver asked.

"Because of where the signal is originating from." Cisco said.

"Where?" Oliver demanded.

"An island in the North China Sea. I believe you know it as Lian Yu." Cisco said.

"Thank you Cisco." Oliver said as he hung up.

"What's going on?" Laurel asked.

"Cisco found the other you and I'm fairly certain that's where we'll find the others." Oliver said.

"Why, where are they?" Laurel said.

"Lian Yu." Oliver said.

"She took this back to where it all began." Nyssa asked.

"And to where I have a tactical advantage and knowledge of the terrain and where we can find some reinforcements." Oliver said.

"You aren't talking about who I think you're talking about are you?" Laurel asked.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures Laurel. Especially considering how likely it is that Thea will go into labor at any time now and they're holding my son. I have to do whatever it takes to save them." Oliver said and Laurel nodded in understanding, though she still didn't like that he resorting to using a murderer to save those he cared most for.


	34. Chapter 34

As Oliver flew the plane Argus had provided, Nyssa joined him and Laurel up front.

"I still don't know why you insisted on coming with us when you can barely walk." Laurel asked her.

"I have an old grudge to settle with my sister and I intend to finally do so." Nyssa said.

"No one kills Talia but me." Oliver said.

"Oliver, how exactly do you plan on accomplishing this, I mean the 3 of us aren't exactly a match against Talia al Ghul, whatever league army she's commanding, a mind controlled Tommy Merlyn and an evil meta version of me." Laurel said.

"Like I said, tactical advantage isn't the only reason Lian Yu is the worst possible location Talia could've chosen to bring this battle, since we can also find allies that Talia may have overlooked." Oliver said.

"I still can't believe you're considering going to him for help after all he's done." Laurel said.

"He wasn't always an enemy Laurel." Oliver reminded her.

"Doesn't mean we should consider him an ally. For we know, Talia's already recruited him to her ranks to." Laurel said as the island came into view.

"It's a bit ironic. The last time I was here was 8 years ago. When I found Sara." Nyssa said.

"Always wondered how she found her way to the league." Oliver said as they prepared to land.

* * *

After the plane landed, Oliver and Laurel changed into their suits before Oliver headed to a place he had not been to in 2 years. The Argus prison.

"Hey kid. I knew you'd come back sooner or later." Slade said as Oliver approached his cell.

"I need your help." Oliver said.

"What brought you back to the island?" Slade asked as Oliver unlocked his cell and let him.

"I'd like to talk to about you for a moment. You seem different than the last time I saw you. You seem." Oliver said, remembering that little mission.

"What, in possession of all my marbles?" Slade asked and Oliver nodded.

"The mirakuru wore off a while ago. I mean, I can still remember everything that I've done, but it all feels like some sort of bad dream. But regardless of my sanity, what would make you want to help me after everything I've done? After all, I killed your mother." Slade reminded him.

"Yeah, well maybe I'm willing to give you another chance to redeem yourself, so I can see if the Slade Wilson I once knew is still in there." Oliver said.

"What has made you so desperate that you'd turn to me of all people for help after everything I've done?" Slade asked curiously.

"There's a woman here on the island named Talia al Ghul who blames me for the death of her father. She's already turned one of my closest friends against me and she's kidnapped nearly everyone else I hold dearly. Including Thea and my son." Oliver said.

"Since when do you have a son?" Slade asked.

"Slade, are you going to help me or not?" Oliver asked, tired of the games.

"Not to restate the obvious, but like I said before, I killed your mother and for that, you should've killed me." Slade said.

"Maybe what's happening now is the reason I didn't." Oliver said as he held out drive to Slade.

"What is this?" Slade asked as he took it.

"It's all the intel I've been able to gather on your son, Joe. Including his present whereabouts." Oliver said, much to Slade's surprise.

"Are you offering to help me find my son?" Slade asked.

"I want us to find both of our sons." Oliver said as he pulled something out of the bag he'd brought with him and presented it to Slade to reveal that it was his Deathstroke mask.

"You and me, kid, like old times." Slade said as he took the mask.

"You betray me again and I'll put an arrow through your other eye." Oliver promised, only to have Slade grin at him.

"Where do we begin?" he asked and Oliver actually smiled at his former friend before going to retrieve Digger Harkness.

* * *

As Laurel and Nyssa continued offloading supplies, Laurel was concerned for Nyssa's wellbeing.

"Laurel, I assure you, I'm fine." Nyssa assured her.

"That would be more convincing if you could take a step without wincing in pain." Laurel pointed out as Oliver approached them with Digger Harkness and Deathstroke with him.

"Have you finished unloading the supplies?" Oliver asked.

"Most, guns and ammo are still on the ship, but why exactly did you bring an RPG?" Laurel asked.

"You said it yourself, Talia's forces are much larger than our own and I have no intentions of this being a fair fight." Oliver said.

"Is that why you released the animals from their cages?" Nyssa asked.

"Oh, come on, luv. That is no way to start a new friendship." Harkness said.

"Look at me like that again and I will feed you your own eyes." Nyssa threatened.

"You're not her type anyway." Laurel said.

"Alright that's enough, let's offload the rest of the gear." Oliver said as a rocket came soaring through the sky and destroyed the plane they came on.

"There goes our ride home kid." Slade said.

"Let's get moving." Oliver said.


	35. Chapter 35

The teams decided to up into Oliver, Slade and Harkness to investigate where the call from William had originated while Laurel and Nyssa went to check out the RPG site.

"Why does he get a weapon and I don't?" Harkness complained to Oliver.

"I trust him more than you." Oliver said simply.

"Didn't he kill your mother?" Harkness asked.

"That should indicate how little I trust you. Listen, you help me, you walk, but if you with me or any other members of this rescue team, well, let's just say you'll wish I threw your sorry ass back into that cell." Oliver said.

"Kid, I see movement." Slade said, pointing to cages.

"Let's move." Oliver said as they approached the cages to see Curtis, Evelyn, Rory, Thea and Samantha all sitting in cages.

"Oliver." Evelyn said.

"Keep your voices down." Slade said.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Thea asked, but Oliver turned his attention Samantha.

"Where's William?" he asked.

"I don't know we were separated. Oliver, what the hell is going on?" Samantha asked.

"Strange they're unguarded." Slade said.

"Seems pretty obvious to me mate," Harkness said as Talia and Tommy jumped down from the trees, "It's a trap."

"Don't even think it Oliver or your son loses his mother." Talia threatened as Oliver started to raise his bow.

"Oh and don't worry about that gun mate, Ms. al Ghul offered me this nice new one and a better offer." Harkness said as he pulled a gun on him.

"I suspected that it would be pointless to reach out to you, although given this turn of events, perhaps you've changed your mind." Talia said.

"What's it gonna be, Slade? Care to side with the winners?" Harkness asked.

"Put a gun to his head. Sorry, kid, but there's no giving up to these guys." Slade said, seemingly turning on Oliver.

"I assumed you'd want to be on the winning side." Harkness said as he walked over to Slade.

"Assumption is the mother of all failures!" Slade shouted as he punched Harkness out and Oliver used a flechette to stop Talia's arrow from killing Samantha as Laurel and Nyssa arrived in the clearing.

"Sister." Nyssa shouted.

Talia, seeing a lost cause, used a smoke bomb to cover their escape.

* * *

"Thea, are you okay?" Oliver asked as he helped his sister out of the cage.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Thea said.

"Yeah, as a master of lying about that stuff, don't think I don't recognize it, how much pain are you in?" Oliver asked.

"On a scale from one to ten, 20." Thea admitted.

"We need to get you to a doctor, now." Laurel said.

"How, our ride got blown up." Slade said.

"Talia brought us here on a plane." Curtis said.

"If I know her, it's got to be sabotaged." Oliver said.

"So, how do you suggest that we get Thea and everyone else off this rock?" Laurel asked.

"There's an Argus supply ship on the eastern shores. Laurel, get them to the ship and contact Argus for a pickup." Oliver said and Laurel nodded.

"I can lead them through the island a lot more quickly and given your sister's condition, the faster you get her off the island, the better." Slade said.

"Not a chance. I don't want you outside of my sight." Oliver said and Slade nodded in understanding.

"I'll meet up with you guys as soon as I can." Laurel said.

"Remember the code phrase we established to make sure we can tell the difference between you and your earth 2 double?" Oliver asked her and Laurel nodded before kissing him.

"Good luck." Laurel said with a smile as she led the others towards the ship.

"So, where do we go now fearless leader?" Slade asked as Nyssa reapproached them.

"My sister and the others fled into the forest, but I can track them." Nyssa said.

"Good, lead the way." Oliver said and Nyssa nodded.

* * *

"I've lost the trail." Nyssa said.

"Are you sure." Oliver asked her.

"No doubt my sister knew we would follow. Let me go on ahead, see if I can recover the trail." Nyssa said and Oliver nodded as she went on ahead.

"So, instead of marrying the blonde, you married Ra's al Ghul's daughter?" Slade asked.

"Nyssa talks to much." Oliver said.

"She still hasn't explained your beef with her sister." Slade said.

"My past is coming back to haunt me." Oliver said.

"Seems to be a recurring theme with you kid?" Slade said.

"Can't imagine why." Oliver said.

"It's not that complicated. You suffer from survivor's guilt. You can't get over the death of your father." Slade said.

"Talia al Ghul has nothing to do with my father." Oliver argued.

"Kid, when it comes to you, everything has to do with your father. You and I are not dissimilar. We're both haunted by our pasts, and the only way to bury that ghost is by forgiving yourself." Slade said.

"Forgiving myself for what?" Oliver asked.

"You blame yourself for your father's suicide and everything else that has gone wrong since. You need to forgive yourself for your sins." Slade said.

"You say that like it's easy." Oliver said, thinking of his guilt, not just for his father's death, but for the deaths of Yao Fei, Shado, Akio, Taiana, Tommy, his mother, Sara and what was happening with Tommy now.

"It's the hardest thing in this world." Slade said as Nyssa approached them.

"If the 2 of you are done relaxing, I've picked up the trail." Nyssa said and Oliver and Slade nodded.

* * *

Nyssa led them to a place that was all too familiar to Oliver and Slade. The plane they had used as their hideout for 2 years.

"This place brings back memories. Almost none of them good." Slade said.

"Feels like a lifetime ago." Oliver said.

"For Shado it was." Slade reminded him.

"Why would the trail end here, but there's no sign of the hostages. It makes no sense." Oliver said.

"I thought it would be obvious Oliver." Tommy said as he stepped out of the shadows, wearing his Prometheus gear, minus the mask.

"It's a trap." Slade said and Tommy nodded.

"I can see now that you're the one who kept Oliver alive while he was here." Tommy said to Slade.


	36. Chapter 36

"So, you're Tommy Merlyn. I must say, I'm not impressed." Slade said.

"I could say the same thing about you Wilson." Tommy said.

"Slade, Nyssa, stand down. This is my battle." Oliver said.

"I thought you loved putting others in your crossfire. After all, that's what got me killed." Tommy said as he unsheathed his sword.

"You're right. You becoming Prometheus is my mess and now I intend to clean it up." Oliver said as Slade surprised him and handed him his sword.

"You'll need it more than I do right now." Slade said and Oliver nodded as he and Tommy began circling each other.

"Finally, I get to prove that I'm better than the golden boy." Tommy said.

"I don't want to hurt you Tommy." Oliver said.

"I told you. Thomas Merlyn is dead. And don't worry about hurting me." Tommy said as he charged and Oliver regretfully retaliated.

"Come on Tommy, I know you're still in there somewhere." Oliver said as they continued to fight, though Oliver was not truly fighting and was honestly taking a beating.

"Come on, fight back." Tommy shouted as he kicked Oliver down.

"No, I won't fight you. You're my friend." Oliver said.

"No I'm not. I am Prometheus now." Tommy shouted as Oliver got back up.

"No, your name is Thomas Merlyn. You and I have been best friends for so long, we'll more like brothers." Oliver said.

"If you were my brother, you would not have stolen Laurel from me." Tommy said.

"Is that what this is about? I didn't steal her from you Tommy. You got insecure and broke things off with her. I couldn't have stolen her if she wasn't with you. Besides, she made a choice, same as you." Oliver said as he finally began fighting back.

"You took what I cared about the most and now I will make you pay for it." Tommy said.

"The Tommy Merlyn I knew would never say that. He was a lot of things, but a sexist bitch to Talia al Ghul wasn't one of them." Oliver groaned.

"I'm no one's bitch." Tommy said.

"Really, then why are you taking orders from someone else Tommy?" Oliver asked.

"My name is Prometheus." Tommy said as he kicked Oliver down.

"No it's not. Your name is Thomas Merlyn." Oliver tried again.

"No it's not." Tommy shouted as he kicked Oliver in the gut again.

"If you're going to kill me, then do it. Because I'm done fighting my friend. But just know that I'm with you until the end of the line pal." Oliver said.

"So be it, though I was hoping for more of a fight." Tommy said as he raised his sword and Oliver closed his eyes, preparing for his death when suddenly he heard a clang.

He opened his eyes to see that Tommy had dropped his sword and was now on his knees, looking horrified with himself and Oliver walked up to him.

"Who I am talking to? Tommy or Prometheus?" Oliver asked him.

"I don't know anymore." Tommy said and the tone of his voice told Oliver that he finally got his friend back.

"I knew you were still in there somewhere." Oliver said as he held out his hand to Tommy, who took it.

"How can you even look at me, knowing what I've done?" Tommy asked.

"Because I've done much worse. Besides, you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Slade Wilson." Oliver said as he helped Tommy stand up.

"I've heard of you. Or rather, Deathstroke." Tommy said.

"I think everyone on this plane has a checkered past, all we can do now is focus on the present." Slade said as Oliver handed him back his sword.

"Right, Tommy, do you know where the rest of the hostages are?" Oliver asked.

"They're at a monastery, I can lead you to them, but you're not gonna like how." Tommy said.

"Let me guess, as prisoners of war?" Nyssa asked.

"It's the only for me to get you in without arousing suspicion." Tommy said.

"Is my son there?" Oliver asked.

"If he is, he's not with the others." Tommy said.

"So, once we get inside, we split up." Oliver said and the others looked at him to explain more of his plan.


	37. Chapter 37

After Laurel got Thea and the others to the ship, she and Evelyn got Thea settled in the on board infirmary.

"I'm fine, really." Thea insisted, though her heavy breathing suggested otherwise.

"Evelyn, go get on the radio and get a doctor here now. From what it sounds like, Thea's likely to go into labor at any moment." Laurel said and Evelyn nodded before walking out.

"I just hope that Roy gets here before the time comes." Thea panted.

"He will. Oliver is going to find him." Laurel assured her.

"Why is he working with Slade Wilson?" Thea asked.

"Look Thea, I'm not thrilled about it either and I know that he isn't either, but desperate times called for desperate measures. We can only hope that the Slade Wilson Oliver used to know is the Slade who's with him right now." Laurel said.

* * *

When Oliver, Tommy, Slade and Nyssa arrived at the fortress, Oliver, Slade and Nyssa were in shackles to make their approach seem authentic.

"Okay, this is where we split up. Slade, Nyssa, search the monastery for my son. Tommy, take me to the rest of prisoners." Oliver said as they entered and Tommy released Slade and Nyssa.

"Copy that." Tommy said as he did his best to look like he was still Prometheus.

"See you soon kid." Slade said as he and Nyssa ran off through the halls.

"I don't understand how you can trust me so easily after everything I've done." Tommy said as he and Oliver walked through the fortress.

"Because compared to all the things I've done over the past ten years, pretty all of them in my father's name, the things you did as Prometheus is nothing, especially considering you weren't in control of your actions." Oliver said.

"Yeah well, maybe you shouldn't trust me so easily." Tommy said as suddenly he slugged Oliver and knocked him out, right as Black Siren approached.

"Tell Talia I've got him." Prometheus said and Black Siren grinned at the sight of Oliver Queen, unconscious.

* * *

"Oliver." John said as Black Siren and Prometheus dragged Oliver into the room that Rene, Donna, Quentin, Roy and John were all being held in.

"Don't blame me. Mr. Merlyn here is the one who gets credit for this trophy." Black Siren said.

"Tommy, you son of a bitch." Quentin growled at his daughter's ex-boyfriend.

"I can't believe I thought I actually got through to you. I was foolish to trust you." Oliver said, sounding betrayed.

"Anger is a powerful motivator. You of all people understand that." Prometheus said as he and Black Siren left.

"Where's my son?" Oliver asked the others.

"William, Talia got him to?" John asked.

"She sent me a video of William begging for help and Samantha was also being held prisoner here. He is on this island somewhere and we need to find him." Oliver said.

* * *

Nyssa was scouting a corridor when she came across the real person she'd been looking for.

"Talia." Nyssa growled at her older sister.

"I'm surprised to see you up and about so soon after your little accident." Talia said smugly.

"You of all people know that it would take more than a few bruises to stop a daughter of Ra's al Ghul." Nyssa said.

"I heard that you rejected the ring of the demon's head. What a foolish young woman you've become." Talia mocked.

"Well it was your selfishness that forced me to grow up alone." Nyssa said.

"Our father would never have passed his mantle down to a woman. I had to forge my own path." Talia said.

"And you left me knowing that I would suffer at father's hand. And if anything, he'd be ashamed of you, since while father was many awful things, dishonorable was not one of them. He would be ashamed that you've perverted his teachings the way you have, teaching your followers to fight without honor." Nyssa said.

"You wish to settle this score now?" Talia asked as she unsheathed her sword and Nyssa did the same as they dropped their bows and engaged in combat.

* * *

Once Oliver was sure they were clear, he dropped his betrayed disguise.

"Alright, let's get out of here." Oliver said.

"I think Merlyn hit you a bit too hard on the head when he knock you out." Quentin said as Oliver pulled a small item from his sleeve.

"What's that?" John asked as Oliver used the item to remove his cuffs.

"Paper clip, sometimes the most old fashioned tricks are the best ones." Oliver said as he released the others.

"Quentin, there's an Argus supply ship docked on the east shore. Laurel's there now with everyone else. Get Donna there and tell Laurel we could use her help." Oliver said and Quentin nodded.

"I'm going to." Roy said and Oliver nodded as he, Quentin and Donna left the room.

"The rest of us need to find Talia, since if we find her, we find my son." Oliver said Tommy reentered the room, carrying Oliver's bow and quiver.

"Wait, Tommy was only pretending to screw you? Does that mean?" John asked.

"Yeah, I got through to him, but this was the best way for us to get in here." Oliver said.

"Us? Who else is here?" Rene asked as someone that John recognized all too well.

"Slade, you son of bitch." John said as he slugged him.

"Ok, I deserve that." Slade said.

"John, calm down, he's on our side." Oliver said.

"Oliver, this man murdered your mother, how can you say that he's on our side?" John demanded.

"Because he helped us free the other hostages and the Mirakuru is out of his system." Oliver said.

"I'm not expecting you to forgive me Mr. Diggle, but right now, if we're to survive, we must be willing to work together." Slade said.

"I can't believe you're considering this." John said.

"No time to argue, now let's move, did you find William?" Oliver asked.

"I've searched everywhere, he's not here." Slade said as Tommy handed Oliver back his gear.

"We need to find Nyssa and Talia now." Oliver said.

"Don't think that'll be a problem hoss." Rene said Nyssa came in the room, battling with Talia as her forces entered the room.

"Hello Oliver, welcome back to Purgatory." Talia said.

"You bitch." Tommy said.

"I see you found a way to get your friend back. I'd congratulate you, but you are still vastly outnumbered." Talia said.

"Deal with her soldiers, Talia's mine." Oliver said and the others nodded as the final battle began.


	38. Chapter 38

Oliver and Talia were neck in neck in combat, both of them being superior with their skills.

"It's foolish of you to be believe that you can beat me Oliver." Talia said as they heard 2 sonic screams hit each other.

"Sounds like the real Laurel just had a conversation with her knockoff." Rene said as he and the others took out Talia's warriors with ease and Laurel, the real Laurel approached them with her doppelganger in meta dampening cuffs and now they were all watching Oliver and Talia's final battle.

"Tell me where my son is." Oliver demanded.

"There's only way you'll that information and that's if you can actually beat me." Talia said as they continued up a stairwell, blade on bow.

"You act as though you think I can't." Oliver said.

"You cannot. I am the former heir to the demon." Talia told him, just to have Oliver smirk at her as he caught her blade with his bow and then disarmed her, reminding him of when he was in a similar situation 2 years ago.

"I shouldn't have to remind you that I killed Ra's al Ghul. You may have been heir to the demon, but I AM THE DEMON!" Oliver shouted that last part as he used Talia's own weapon knock her over the banister and onto the floor before he jumped down to Talia's level and held her at her own sword point.

"I had your father in a very similar position 2 years ago and I killed him at his own insistence. His last words were that he chose me well. I'd recommend your last words being where the hell my son is." Oliver said, only to hear the sound of a blade fitting flesh.

Oliver turned to see the source, which was all the time Talia needed to escape.

But Oliver didn't care so much about that as he did as he watched Slade Wilson fall to one of Talia's men, who clearly would've killed Oliver if Slade hadn't taken the blow.

Oliver's vision went red with anger and he fired 3 arrows into the student, killing him effectively before running to Slade's side.

"Slade, stay with me." Oliver told him.

"It's too late for me kid." Slade gasped as he coughed up some blood.

"You're not clocking out on me." Oliver insisted.

"It's my time kid. At least I'm dying as myself, and not as the lunatic I once was." Slade said.

"Why did you take that blow?" Oliver asked him.

"To make amends for killing your mother. It only seemed right that I died the same way she did." Slade wheezed.

"Don't talk like that. We'll get you help." Oliver tried and everyone was surprised at how much Oliver cared for Slade.

"No, I'm going out with honor." Slade insisted and Oliver knew why he wanted to die.

"Tell Shado I said hello and that I'm sorry." Oliver said.

"I just hope I'll be able to see her. But Oliver, I want you to promise me something." Slade said.

"Name it." Oliver said.

"After you get off this island, I want you to find my son Joe and tell him that I died with honor. Promise you'll tell him I died as the man I was the last time he saw me." Slade said.

"I will, I promise. I'll get you the send off you deserve." Oliver promised him.

"My fight has ended. Now it's time for you to finish yours." Slade said as his breathing stilled and his eye went blank.

Oliver closed his own eyes in grief before closing Slade's eye.

"Oliver, you were right. He really was on our side." John said.

"Laurel, get the others back to the ship and get the hell of this rock." Oliver said.

"What about you?" Laurel asked.

"I'm going after Talia. She is not getting off this island." Oliver said firmly as he rose and ran out.

"What do we do with him?" Rene asked of Slade's body.

"We leave him here for now. He'll only hinder us." Nyssa said and the others nodded as they left the chamber as well.

* * *

 **Sorry for the short chapter, but it felt appropriate to leave it here. Please review.**


	39. Chapter 39

Oliver chased Talia to the western docks where she was sailing away on a small motor boat, which Oliver jumped onto.

"Talia, tell me where my son is." Oliver shouted at her.

"He's right here." Talia said as she reached into the door behind her and pulled William out and held him in a choke hold.

"Oh." Oliver said as he notched an arrow and aimed at her.

"Don't do that Oliver. As the one who taught you the true art of archery, I think we both know you don't have a shot. All it takes is one snap and I'll kill him." Talia said mockingly.

"You bitch." Oliver said tearfully.

"Language around your son Oliver." Talia said as Oliver looked like he wanted to kill her.

Oliver lowered his bow slightly before releasing his arrow into Talia's leg.

"Did you really expect to hurt me?" Talia asked.

"No, but I bet this well." Oliver said as the arrow exploded, knocking Talia back and Oliver took the opportunity to grab William and pull him into his arms.

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" Oliver asked.

"He'll be fine Oliver." Talia said, only to have Oliver look at her in pure rage.

"I never thought I'd come across a person I'd hate more than Damien Darhk or even more than Malcolm Merlyn. I was wrong." Oliver growled.

"Are you sure that you want your son to see you like that. After all, this was the same place where you discovered who your father really was." Talia said.

"No, I'm not to going to kill you like this. I will kill you, just not yet. Once we get back to Lian Yu, I will kill you." Oliver said.

"How do you know I won't escape?" Talia asked.

"Because considering an exploding arrow just detonated in your foot, you're in no position to escape. In fact, considering that there's a good chance your foot won't ever heal, I might just leave you here to rot." Oliver said as he punched her out.

Oliver turned to William, who looked more shocked than anything else.

"William, are you okay?" Oliver asked.

"Are you really my father?" William asked.

"I am. It's a long story that I promise I'll explain to you, but right now we need to get you and everyone else to a hospital now," Oliver said before he activated his comm link, "Laurel, do you read me?"

"Yeah, we made it off the island and an Argus chopper is inbound to get Thea to a hospital. Did you find William?" Laurel asked.

"Yeah, he's here with me. How's Thea?" Oliver asked.

"Her water broke a few minutes ago, but she's managing. Roy and Donna are with her now in the med bay and John and Rene have taken the helm and are heading away from the island." Laurel said.

"Okay, we'll meet you halfway and then I'll drop William off with you guys before I return to Lian Yu to take care of some business." Oliver said.

"What sort of business?" Laurel asked.

"Properly getting rid of Talia and retrieving Slade's body." Oliver said.

"Copy that, see you soon." Laurel said.

* * *

After dropping William off with the Argus ship, Oliver steered the boat back to Lian Yu and shoved Talia on the land, ignoring her grimaces of pain.

"Where are you taking me?" Talia asked as they approached a very familiar place to Oliver. It was the beach where he'd first signaled to go home 5 years ago.

"You miss your father so much, I've decided that I'm going to let you join him in hell." Oliver said he shoved Talia to the ground.

"Go ahead Hood, kill me so that Oliver Queen can finally be free of you." Talia said.

"No. The hood is just a piece of cloth. The darkness inside of me is a part of me and I've finally decided to embrace that. And now to finish you." Oliver said as he pulled out Talia's sword, which he had retrieved before he left the monastery earlier and held the tip out under Talia's chin.

"Like I said, I had your father in a very similar situation 2 years ago. And now I'm going to end you the same way I did him." Oliver said as he swiftly thrust the sword through Talia's heart, killing her.

"Good bye Talia. And unlike the others, you will not be receiving a grave." Oliver said as he pulled the sword of her and tossed it into the sand next to Talia.

* * *

After Oliver retrieved Slade's body and carried it back to the boat, where he then placed Slade's body in the cargo hold before going up to the helm to find everyone waiting, except for Thea and Roy, who Oliver had heard screaming in the infirmary.

"What's the status on the Argus chopper?" Oliver asked, right as something appeared on the radar.

"It looks like they're almost here." Laurel said.

"Good, in the meantime, chart a course for the nearest Argus facility and we can all get a ride home from there." Oliver said and John nodded as they heard the chopper land.


	40. Chapter 40

**Well, I hope you're all excited because Thea and Roy's baby is finally going to be born.**

* * *

After the Argus doctor was brought down to Thea, Oliver had the chopper take Donna and Quentin back to Star City now while the rest of them just waited on the helm of the ship waiting for some news about Thea.

"Oliver, are you okay?" Laurel asked as she approached her boyfriend, who had been rather quiet since he'd brought Slade's body on board the ship.

"Yeah." Oliver said.

"Are you lying to me again?" Laurel asked, since they both knew the answer to that.

"Yeah, I am. I don't know, there used to be a time where Slade's death would've actually been a cause for celebration to me. Now." Oliver said.

"You miss him." Laurel said.

"I know it sounds crazy, after all Slade did, but he was still my friend. More than my friend actually, he was like a brother to me." Oliver said.

"It's not crazy. If anything Oliver, from what I saw of Slade today, I finally saw the man you said he'd once been. He died a hero." Laurel said.

"Which is why I'm going to ask Lyla to arrange a hero's send off for Slade. He deserves it." Oliver said and Laurel smiled, right as Tommy approached them.

"Tommy, you feeling like your old self again?" Oliver asked.

"No, I honestly don't think I ever will. The man I was did die back in that building." Tommy said.

"But you're not Prometheus anymore either are you?" Laurel asked and Tommy shook his head.

"No, I'm not Prometheus, but I'm not Tommy either. Once we get off this ship, if you'll let me, I think I'm going to leave to try and figure myself out again. Besides, even for our town, my coming back to life will certainly raise some questions." Tommy said.

"Tommy, we just got you back and now you want to leave again?" Oliver asked.

"It won't be forever. But I need to figure out who I am." Tommy said.

Before Oliver could respond, Roy entered the bridge and every looked at him expectantly.

"Well?" Oliver asked.

"The baby's here. It's a girl." Roy said.

"Congrats Roy." John said as he hugged his fellow dad.

"Thanks Dig." Roy said as Oliver hugged him next.

"Are you here by choice or did Thea kick you out of the room?" Laurel asked as she hugged Roy next.

"A little bit of both actually. I was coming here to tell you guys anyways and Thea agreed, but she told me to stay out for awhile, though she wants to see you Oliver." Roy said and Oliver chuckled.

"I'll let you know when it's safe for you to come in again." Oliver said as he clapped Roy's shoulder before heading below deck.

* * *

When Oliver entered the infirmary, he found Thea lying back in bed, looking exhausted, though happier than Oliver had seen her in a long time as she held a small bundle wrapped in a blanket in her arms.

"How you feeling Speedy?" Oliver asked her quietly as he approached her.

"A strange mixture of soreness, exhaustion and joy." Thea whispered as Oliver looked down at his new niece who was fast asleep in her mother's arms.

"She's beautiful Speedy." Oliver said and Thea had tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, she is. She's perfect." Thea said.

"Mom and Dad would be so proud of you right now." Oliver said.

"I wish they were here to see her." Thea said.

"I'm sure if they were here, they'd love her as much as they did us." Oliver assured her.

"I haven't named her yet." Thea said.

"Why not?" Oliver asked.

"I just couldn't come up with one yet." Thea said.

"How about, Moira." Oliver suggested.

"After mom?" Thea asked.

"Only if you want to." Oliver said.

Thea pondered it for a minute before saying "Moira Harper. I like the sound of that. But my opinion isn't the only one that matters. Would you mind retrieving my boyfriend for me?" Thea asked and Oliver chuckled before nodding and walking out of the room.

* * *

When he returned, Roy was with him.

"I don't think you've gotten the chance to hold your daughter yet." Thea said as she gently placed her daughter in Roy's arms.

"She's perfect." Roy said.

"Yes she is. And I want to name her Moira, after my mother." Thea said.

"I like it. What about her middle name?" Roy asked.

Thea thought about it for a minute saying "Sara."

"Moira Sara Harper. I like it. Our lovely Argus friend also did us a favor of providing all the paperwork necessary to." Roy said.

"Can you worry about that. I just want to rest." Thea said.

"Yeah of course, you've earned it." Roy said as he gently kissed Thea's forehead.

"I think I'll give you 3 some time alone." Oliver said with a smile as he walked out of the room to give the new family some space.


	41. Chapter 41

A few days after they all returned home to Star City, the whole team, including Lyla, Thea, Moira. Tommy and even Felicity, had gathered in the Star City cemetery, all of them dressed in black as they prepared to finally let Slade Wilson rest.

Oliver stood closest to the freshly dug grave, since he had known Slade the best out of anyone there and standing to his right was a young man roughly Roy's age who anyone could tell was Slade's son Joseph.

"Thank you for calling me. I'm glad I was able to be here." Joe said to Oliver.

"I was only honoring your father's wishes. He was a good man. He was just." Oliver said.

"Complicated?" Joe supplied.

"Exactly. He'd be happy you're here though." Oliver said.

"There's nowhere else I'd rather be right now." Joe said as ASIS soldiers brought a casket that they all knew contained Slade's body down before it was placed on top of the grave.

After the priest said his piece, Oliver was asked to come forward to give a eulogy.

"Slade Wilson was I think the definition of a complicated person. Over his lifetime, Slade Wilson suffered fates that were far worse than death. He was branded a murderer and a lunatic, simply because of unstable substance in his system. Slade suffered loss," Oliver thought of Billy Wintergreen, Slade's former partner who'd gone rogue, "heartbreak," Oliver thought of Shado while Joe thought of his mother, "pain," Oliver thought of the accident that had required Slade's mirakuru injection in the first place, "betrayal," the incident regarding his and Sara lying Slade about what happened to Shado came to mind, "and finally he was plagued with insanity and believe everyone here knows the rest. But anyways, I only wish that the world had gotten to know the Slade Wilson I knew on the island. The man I called my brother. Slade was a good man who was simply handed a lousy lot in life. But at least now I can take heart in knowing that his long suffering has finally ended and he is at peace." Oliver said as he stepped back to the side.

* * *

By nightfall, there was only one person left at Slade's tombstone.

Oliver just sat in front of the stone silently, since even he could speak, he wasn't even sure what he'd say.

"Ollie, you're still here?" Laurel asked as she got out of her car and walked over to him.

"I just couldn't bring myself to leave this place." Oliver said.

"Oliver, are you okay?" Laurel asked.

"I think it will be awhile before I use the word okay again." Oliver said.

"Oliver, I don't understand, you've lost people before. Why is this time different?" Laurel asked.

"Loss does strange things to people Laurel, you know that better than anyone. And I have lost a lot of people. My father, Yao Fei, Shado, Sara, 3 times now, Akio, Taiana, Tommy, I mean I know he's alive again, but still, my mother, Maseo and now Slade. I think I'm one loss away from losing it." Oliver said.

"Oliver, loss is a part of life, no one knows that better than you. You have lost more people over the past 10 years than most people do in a lifetime, but you always come out stronger for it." Laurel said.

"It's only because I have you guys to keep me from quitting." Oliver said.

"I know. You'll always have people to fall back on Ollie. You don't always need to be the strong one. Slade was your best friend. I think you're entitled to let yourself grieve. Take a few days off from both your jobs. My dad can handle things at City Hall and John and I can handle things regarding the team." Laurel suggested.

"Okay, on one condition." Oliver said.

"Which is?" Laurel asked.

"You come with me." Oliver said.

"What do you mean?" Laurel asked.

"I think what I need right now is a week away from Star City and like you said, John and your dad are more than capable of running things here. Besides, considering Thea and Roy are living in your place with Moira, it couldn't hurt for you to have sometime away." Oliver said.

"You want us to go on a vacation together?" Laurel asked.

"Yep. Anywhere you want, being the mayor has it's perks, since it gives me access to a private plane." Oliver said with a smile.

"How about a week in Palm Springs." Laurel said with a smile of her own.

"A week of sunshine, drinks, beaches and you, sounds like paradise." Oliver said as he finally stood up and pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

"Marry me." Oliver before he could stop himself.

"What?" Laurel asked, a little shocked.

"I know it seems sudden, but we never really took it slow and honestly, I want to jump right in with you as my wife. I love you Laurel, so please, marry me." Oliver said.

Laurel's response was almost instantaneous.

"I thought you'd never ask." She said.

Oliver smiled and said "Why don't we go back to _**our**_ loft and celebrate?"

"I like the sound of that. Our loft." Laurel said.

"Let's go." Oliver said and Laurel could tell that she'd effectively gotten Oliver to shift his focus to something much more pleasant than Slade's death. Their future together.


	42. Chapter 42

**Final Chapter**

"You sure you want to do this Oliver. You're basically saying goodbye to your free will." John said to Oliver as helped him prepare for the most important and dangerous mission of Oliver's life.

"Hey, if you can do it, so can I and Roy's one step ahead of me." Oliver reminded him.

"Just making sure you don't want to back out now." John said.

"Please John, I think we both know that I'm too scared of what Laurel will do to me if I tried that. Besides, I love her too much to do that to her." Oliver said.

"Then it sounds like I got back just in time." Tommy said as he entered the room.

"Tommy. I'm glad you could make it buddy." Oliver said as he hugged his best friend.

"I'm insulted that you thought that I'd miss my both of my best friends' wedding day. Even if it did cost me ten bucks." Tommy said.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"Back when you and Laurel were together the first together and Laurel seemed like your most serious relationship, Thea and I placed a bet on whether or not you guys would ever get married and she won." Tommy said and Oliver chuckled.

"I shouldn't be surprised." Oliver said.

"Still a little insulted you didn't ask me to be your best man." Tommy said.

"Well to be fair, you're dead, so having you as the mayor's best man, may not be such a good idea." Oliver pointed out.

* * *

Laurel was currently standing in front of a full body mirror in a room on the other side of the chapel, looking at herself in her wedding dress.

"You look just like you did in the dominator's dream." a voice said and Laurel turned to see her little sister standing in the doorway.

"Sara, you made it." Laurel said, hugging her little sister.

"I'm insulted that you think I'd miss my big sister's wedding day?" Sara asked.

"Let me guess, you did forget and then used your access to a time traveling spaceship to go back in time and attend my wedding?" Laurel asked, knowing her sister all too well, especially when Sara just smiled guiltily at her.

"Sorry." Sara said.

"Hey, just consider yourself lucky that this time around, you actually made it." Laurel said as Thea entered the room.

"Hey Thea, wow, you really lost the baby weight fast." Sara said, since Thea was now once again as thin as she was before she was pregnant.

"Fast, it took me 6 months." Thea said.

"Well, to me it was fast." Sara said.

"I hate you." Thea said before turning to Laurel.

"Is the maid of honor ready to do her duty?" Laurel asked Thea, who nodded eagerly.

"Why'd you name her your maid of honor and not me?" Sara asked.

"Because Thea made it to the wedding without having to go back in time." Laurel said pointedly.

"Point made." Sara conceded as their father entered the room.

"Everyone's ready if you are Laurel." Quentin said to his daughter.

"I've always been ready for this." Laurel said.

"Guess there's no chance in me talking you out of this then." Quentin said and Laurel smiled at her father.

"Not a chance in hell." Laurel said.

* * *

Oliver was currently standing at the altar next to the minister while waiting for Laurel to come down the aisle and was looking out everyone in the crowd.

On his side of the aisle sat Walter, who was holding Moira, since Thea still saw Walter as her stepfather and as such, Moira's grandfather, a role which he happily accepted, Tommy, Rene, Curtis and his husband Paul, Evelyn, Lyla and JJ, Samantha and William, Felicity and Hal, Barry, Iris, Cisco, Caitlin, Joe, H.R., Ray, Jax, Professor Stein, Nate, Amaya, Tatsu and several other members of the city council.

On Laurel's side was her mother, Donna, who was cautious to sit at the other end of the bench as her boyfriend's ex-wife, Nyssa, Mari, Laurel's friends and former coworkers from CNRI and the District Attorney's office.

Now standing at Oliver's left was John, who was serving as his best man, and Roy who was his groomsmen, while to his far right were Thea, who was the maid of honor and Sara who was a bridesmaid.

Finally, as the music started, Laurel came walking down the aisle with one arm in her father's.

When they reached the steps to the altar, Oliver walked down to meet them and he took Laurel's arm from Quentin.

"You hurt her again and I'll make sure you really do die on that island." Quentin muttered to Oliver chuckled as Quentin let go of Laurel's arm and took his seat next to Donna as Oliver and Laurel walked up to the minister, who began the ceremony.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today because you have been asked to pay witness as Oliver Jonas Queen and Dinah Laurel Lance become joined in holy matrimony. Now, before I continue, I must ask, is there anyone here who sees a reason as to why these two should not be wed? If so, speak now or forever hold your peace." the minister said.

After no one spoke up, the basic vows were exchanged between Oliver and Laurel, since they had already wasted 10 years and they did not intend on wasting anymore time.

"And now, do you Oliver, take Dinah Laurel Lance to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?" the minister asked.

"I do." Oliver said as John handed him a ring, which Oliver then placed on Laurel's right ring finger.

"And do you, Dinah, take Oliver Jonas Queen to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?" the minister then asked Laurel.

"I do." Laurel said as Thea then handed her a ring, which Laurel then placed on Oliver's right ring finger.

"Then, by the power vested in me, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." the minister said and Oliver smiled as he and Laurel shared their first kiss as husband and wife.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you all, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Queen." the minister said.

* * *

 **Epilogue:**

Over the next 30 years, things went on as usual it could be in Star City. After his first term as mayor came to an end, Oliver was re elected mayor of Star City and the people thought that he'd done such a good job as mayor, since it was under his watch that crime in Star City was down and it appeared the city was finally starting to recover from all the horrible things that had occurred to it over the years, that the people tried to amend the constitution so he could stay on longer, though Oliver denied that and instead had decided to return to the wonderful world of business and he established a new company, Queen Incorporated. Queen Inc. quickly grew in size and backers as Oliver picked up with Queen Inc where he left off with Queen Consolidated. Laurel continued to serve as the DA for Star City, since Oliver's successor had agreed that she was the best choice for the job. Oliver and Laurel both also continued to perform their duties as the Green Arrow and the Black Canary.

About 5 years after they got married, Oliver and Laurel had a son, Robert Slade Queen, who was now 25 and had just finished college and now he had decided to join the family business and Oliver was now grooming him to take over company, along with training him to take on the mantle of Green Arrow someday.


End file.
